Darkness Rising
by Luna Addictus
Summary: Post!TDH. Nineteen years had passed since the Dark Lord was vanquished, however a new threat will awaken. Who will be the next one who will step into the realm of the Dark? AntiHPGW fic
1. Before the Epilogue

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, and I certainly do not own its characters not even the original plot, because if I did, I swear, I WOULDN'T HAVE INSERTED THE "EPILOGUE". :) BTW, I'm not going to put any disclaimer notice for the following chapters because I think it would be awfully redundant.

SPOILER: THIS IS A POST!TDH FIC. You had been warned. BTW, this is mainly, I think, an ARGH fic.

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**Darkness Rising**

By _Luna Addictus_

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**Chapter 1**

**Before the Epilogue**

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The trees whipped harshly as the strong wind blew cruelly in the dead of the night. Not a single star shone through the dark clouds that were brought upon by storm; leaves, twigs and branches lashed through the air with such force that one could be cut deeply in an instant. A young woman covered in a black cloak bravely walked through the raging storm, not minding the cruel weather, not minding the harsh cold rain that had already come, not giving attention to the cuts by the rogue objects flying around.

A cough escaped her pale lips, she knew her health had been rather worse in every day that went, but she had to see one person. A person who could answer her questions…

She clutched the cloak tighter; fighting the inevitable cold that draped her being, not only physically, but also… the woman had put her free hand on her unexposed and rather swollen belly. She felt something painful sting her body, her soul, her heart… but she knew she had to go on. She had to.

A small flickering light shone through the storm, the woman took a deep breath. She was nearing her destination; the weather had gotten worse as she took every step, hadn't she known that the storm was going to come early?

She did. But _this_ can no longer wait. Her questions. They must be answered. And it was only a few meters away.

Heavy steps followed her way as she trudged through the muck and mud before the small cottage. She knocked three times.

"Hello? Cleora, this is _me_." Her voice was wistful despite the pain and cold she was feeling. The door opened.

A young girl opened the door. She shrieked.

"No! Not you again!" she gasped at the cloaked woman, and was about to slam the door when the person on the other side stopped it on time. The woman was now holding a wand.

"Please, Cleora, let me see your mother, let me Hear it from you, _please_." It was the first time she felt her voice plead. It was something she had not done before, "_Please_… I… I need to _Know_." She was on the verge of tears when she said those words, every strand of tone was painful, even to the young girl before her.

The girl called Cleora squeaked a little, "F-Fine. I'll go see mother." She opened the door and let the woman in. The girl wore a gypsy's clothing; she wore a large violet bandana which covered her light brown frizzy hair which was tied into a braid, her dress looked almost like a drapery accentuated by beads and bells.

The cloaked woman was led to a small sitting room. There scented candles, crystal balls and books of Divination were the decorations and it smelled strongly of cooked sherry. She sat on one of the circular chintz chair after taking off her extremely wet cloak.

She was neither a beautiful woman, nor an ugly woman. Her young face was curtailed by the shadows under her eyes, it seemed like she did not had enough sleep for days; her long locks of hair was bedraggled and wet. However, a sense of determination flooded her being at the moment she had touched her rather swollen tummy. She knew she had to live.

Hurried steps of wooden shoes clunked on the stairs as another woman, probably on her middle years, entered the sitting room. If the room was full of the smell of sherry, it was nothing compared to the woman who had just come.

A big mop of brown hair and a pair of magnified eyes sat before the woman, her sort of ethereal voice calmed the other woman, "My dear, you had come a long way? Why did you not stay at the safe of your home? Cleora, my Daughter, bring me a cup of hot chocolate, Albus had always given me some when I am cold!"

"Professor Trelawney…" Pain stung her once again, it has been hurting her for the past few weeks.

Sybill smiled, "Do not worry, my child. I had Seen you coming, it's just that my Daughter, I'm sure she could See what I See… she's just a little awkward…"

The aroma of warm chocolate and the fire on the fire place that was brought upon by magic had made the woman feel warm. Cleora had come back with the cup of hot chocolate on her hands, and the other woman took it with both hands. The pain was still there… but she had to go on, she had to know…

It had been some years since Sybill Trelawney had left Hogwarts, fully mastered the arts and sciences of Seeing what cannot be usually Foreseen, and found herself a family. Cleora wasn't really Sybill's biological daughter, she was adopted because Sybill had Seen that Cleora could See what she also Sees.

The woman could feel that Sybill was eyeing her thoroughly, and there was no reason to be afraid to speak of the truth… she closed her eyes, as the swell on her stomach brought pain once more.

"Professor… I… I want to know… the truth of what I have right now." The woman pursed her lips a bit, "Cleora… she had Seen the future of… she had seen my… --'s future…"

Sybill lowered the cup, and gazed at the woman. Sympathy and defeat could be seen in her eyes as she continued to look at the woman before her, "Yes… oh, I believe she did See… of what will happen to your… But do not despair, my child! Prophecies… they will unfold, yes, but as Albus had told me… ah, that old man, really, they will only unfold if the people want to. He's never been really interested in Seeing what I See, but you could still hold out on that, my dear."

The woman had dropped her cup. Pain.

"My dear? Are you all right?"

Her eyes were now watering, she wanted to twist in agony. Pain… pain… her stomach…

"Ahhhhhhhh…" the woman clutched her stomach, it was hurting her so much. She had slipped on the floor because of the pain that was now overtaking her body. She had heard Cleora scream as Sybill told her to call some Healers immediately. But it was too late as the woman screamed a little and blackness…

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"_The sky will split in the soul of the dead_

_The shadows suppressed will once again show itself_

_The Dark Lord has resurfaced once again_

_Another form, another face, another threat_

_Only its equal could stop the darkness within_

_Only Death can conquer the children of Death…"_

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A/N: Oh yes, I think I'm one of those people who would've appreciated the last book if only JK hadn't inserted the "Epilogue".

PLEASE ENJOY! (this would be my third attempt at writing multichapter fic for Harry Potter… and yeah, I had deleted the first two because I couldn't think of plot anymore. So please, bear with me. And yes, sometimes, I could make the characters SO OOC. See Trelawney…)

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	2. After the Epilogue

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**Chapter 2**

**After the Epilogue**

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_All was well._

"Excuse me…" a small yet chipper voice piped from behind Harry; the couple looked at each other, they did not recognize the voice. However a fit of giggles escaped from Lily's mouth.

Lily tugged her mother's robes and pointed, "Hi hi, what an odd looking girl! She looks so _weird_!"

True enough, a young girl was trudging along the path, trying to catch up on the now chugging train. She was a little shorter than his Albus, her shoulder length dirty-blonde hair tied in pigtails with dark blue ribbons and she wore a pair of ridiculously miniature versions of the moon dangling on her ears. She was all alone, pushing her cart, and the on-lookers only laughed at her attempts to catch up on the train; pity ran through Harry's veins as he recalled his self years ago… he whipped out his wand.

The nearest train door magically opened, it was a good thing that the train was yet to pick up speed. The girl continued on trying to run, the trolley was heavy especially if the one pushing it was a frail-looking girl. Harry flicked his wand again as he muttered a simple spell, the trolley flew inside the train. The girl stopped.

It was the first time that Harry had seen her eyes. He felt something painful inside his chest. Those eyes…

"Thank you, sir." She said just before she hopped on the train. It had gathered speed now; Harry could see the girl stood still right before the see-through mirror of the train door, he waved his hand at her, suddenly feeling the need to do that. The girl, as Harry could see, beamed, smiled, and waved back. He felt his lips curve into a smile as he watched her going. It was a feeling… he couldn't quite explain.

It was probably because he too was alone when he first rode the Hogwarts Express. But then, he couldn't forget those oddly misty eyes she had…

Somehow, Harry felt something quite painful erupt in his chest once again. It was a feeling he had long forgotten… and still those eyes… he wondered how the little girl was connected with someone he had not seen for a long time.

He knew it was a mistake he'd done, it was a mistake that he had left her all alone… he couldn't help but feel the guilt swivel in his insides…

"-arry?" a voice pulled him from his reverie. It was Ginny, "Harry? Are you all right? You're sweating like mad." Even Lily was staring at him.

"Oh, yeah, sorry… I… I just remembered something." He lied. It was not like Ginny would know he was lying, in fact, she didn't know when he was lying or when he was telling the truth, so it didn't matter. What was important was that she wasn't weepy or anything, "C'mon, let's go back to the house..."

Somehow, something told Harry that not was all fucking well.

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A/N: Oh yes, I think I'm one of those people who would've appreciated the last book if only JK hadn't inserted the "Epilogue". This fic is mostly ARGH-like (AKA anti-Harry/Ginny, so yeah. XD), and slightly H/L.

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	3. The Ends Meet

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**Chapter 3**

**The Ends Meet**

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At the train, James had left the compartment to go with some of his friends at Hogwarts, which was a relief for Albus because his brother was teasing him nonstop, and Rose didn't help either. She was going on about stuff she had learned from her mum, who according from his dad, was the most brilliant witch, actually student, of their time.

Now that he thought about it… he… he had _some_ practice, but not like how Rose was taught…

"Excuse me, is the seat reserved for someone else?" a dreamy voice piped, Albus and Rose looked up to see who it was.

Albus had not seen anyone like her. And he was sure that Rose hadn't either.

She had pale skin, not yellowish, not like that, but pale… as if someone had used some kind of charm to make her look whitish or something. She had a short mop of dirty-blonde hair, which was tied in two pigtails by dark blue ribbons… but what caught his attention was not the fact that she was wearing a large moon-shaped earring, nor the fact that she wore a necklace with a moon and rabbit in it, not even the fact that she looked like she was dreaming while awake or something.

It was her eyes.

She had these oddly misty eyes that gave the impression that she could see right through people's thoughts.

"Yes, we've—er—saved—" Rose started, but Albus had cut her off.

"No. They're vacant." He said with determination; it was feeling a little different from before. He knew he was a little scared, and that he probably would be sent back home or something, but, he, Albus Severus Potter, was feeling that he _should_ make the girl stay... even a little bit longer.

The girl smiled dreamily at him, "Thanks." She blithely glided into the compartment and sat opposite Albus; she looked at him for a bit, and then looked at Rose (who was beside Albus), who was fidgeting a little. They did not talk for a while until the door slid open once more; they all looked to see who it was.

"Hello, Scorpius Malfoy." Said blonde girl, without even looking up at the boy who had an air of natural haughtiness in him. He nodded at her, "Nice to see you, Diana." He looked at Albus and Rose, his voice was a little more pleasant than what they had expected, "Do you have a seat for one?"

Rose and Albus looked at each other. Sure Uncle Ronald had said that they should stay away from the Malfoys, but then again… he wasn't exactly an unbiased person. It seemed that he and Rose had thought of the same thing.

"Sure."

"Thanks." The boy called Scorpius smirked, or was it a smile? He immediately sat beside the girl called Diana. "Scorpius Malfoy."

"Huh?" Albus stared at him. Scorpius seemed to suppress a fit of laugh, and flashed a rather innocent smile, "I'm introducing myself. I'm Scorpius Malfoy."

"Aahh…" Albus contemplated. _Nice one, Al, you totally messed up on your first introduction…_

"And you are?" asked Scorpius. He was undeniably a lot more talkative than his father, as it seemed earlier.

"Albus. Albus Severus Potter." Replied Albus, Scorpius gaped at him for a moment but seemed to get over it after some seconds. Scorpius looked at Rose, expecting her to say something; Albus looked at her hopefully, as if he wanted her to introduce herself as well.

With a sigh, she said, "It's… Rose. Rose Weasley."

"Oh… you're a _Weasley_." He blinked. She glared at him, "Why? You've got a problem with that?"

Albus thought Scorpius twitched his mouth a little, as if to say something. Just then Diana said something.

"The Humming Bludinger had escaped once again." She was reading The Quibbler. Albus gaped at her. She was reading… _The Quibbler_? Of all magazines… why… why that—

"Mum says The Quibbler is rubbish. Even Aunt Ginny says so." Said Rose, in an air of what Albus thought as an air of haughty knowledge, or something of the sort. Diana gazed at her, pulling down the paper; Albus could not comprehend what was the expression of Diana's face… it looked like a mixture of… anger, temperance, indifference, coldness…

Diana folded her copy of the magazine and stared at Rose, "Why such manners?"

"Pardon?" Rose's voice was getting higher, but Diana continued on giving the odd expression. Then it became blank. Her expression gave nothing.

"You must be that Mud—" Albus thought her eyes gave a strange flicker, "I mean," she breathed deeply, Scorpius was watching her intently, "You must be the daughter of a certain Ronald Billius Weasley and… Hermione _Jane_ Granger."

Rose and Albus looked at each other, bewildered; they turned at Diana and said in unison, "How'd you know that?"

"I—" she was about to say something when Scorpius cut her off.

"Her mother was a friend of your parents, if you didn't know… or it could be they were too _ashamed_ of having a friend like the Lovegoods, of course." Said Scorpius. Rose gave him a threatening look which he only responded with a curl on his lips, "Well, not my dad. He wasn't even friends with the Lovegoods when they were still at Hogwarts. But they've helped—"

"What's a _Malfoy_ doing here?" a scathing voice said from the opened door of the compartment. It was James, he was holding a snitch.

"None of your business, _Potter_." Scorpius replied with venom in his tone. James drew out his wand, so did Scorpius. Rose stood up, "Hey! Don't fight _here_!"

"Wait… wait… brother! He's… he's not bad!" exclaimed Albus, gaining a surprised look not only from Scorpius but from James as well. Diana titled her head to her side, as if watching a television show from another angle.

James turned at his brother, "You don't know about it, Al, but these… these filthy piece of toe rag… he tried—"

"Tried what? Tried _what_?" Scorpius demanded, his sleek blonde hair still in place. Albus stood from his seat, and turned his gaze at his older brother, "Come on! Brother! You don't possibly… think to duel… a kid like me?" his voice trailed away, feeling meek as everyone seemed to look at him.

Scorpius gave him another rather surprised look, but gave him a smile anyway; his older brother, however, rolled his eyes and was about to leave the room when he threatened Scorpius that if something _bad _happened to his younger brother and younger cousin, the Malfoys were really going to be sorry. He left, slamming the slide door in the process.

Albus, Scorpius and Rose all sat afterwards without uttering a single word. The atmosphere in the compartment seemed to be tense as Scorpius did not lowered his wand. Only when Diana told Scorpius that it was all right, and that he didn't have to use his wand while inside the compartment.

"Are you sure?" he asked her. Diana nodded, Scorpius took his wand inside his robes now. He looked at Albus and Rose, then at Diana again. "Er… sorry?"

Rose looked at him with an expression Albus couldn't quite grasp, then after some moments, she broke into a small giggle. It was infectious, after some seconds, Albus felt himself feeling like he was going to laugh too, Scorpius was now smiling and chuckling, and even Diana was now smiling.

"Well… You _could_ be nicer than I thought." Rose said.

Scorpius smiled, "Thanks. Dad always says that I should be able to make, you know, good friends. What House do you reckon you would be? I think I'm in Slytherin, my family has always been in Slytherin."

"My mum said there were a lot of bad wizards that came from Slytherin!" Rose exclaimed, Scorpius rose a brow, "Well, not that I care, really. I want to be in Slytherin, because I want _to_ anyway. How about you?" he turned to Albus.

Albus felt himself go red, "I… I'm not sure…"

"Why not try Slytherin?" said Scorpius, "We could be in the same dormitory. At least you know someone there." Albus felt a little heartened by that. His dad wasn't going to be angry if he was Slytherin, right?

"Well, as for me, I want to be in Gryffindor." Said Rose, more to Scorpius, "_My_ family has always been in Gryffindor, and it's the best among all the rest of the Houses!"

"Not really." Diana's dreamy voice popped. Rose whipped her head at her, "Pardon?" Diana looked at Rose once more with the same blank expression she had earlier, "The Houses… they're nothing more but just Houses. It really doesn't matter if you're part of Gryffindor or Ravenclaw or Slytherin or Hufflepuff…"

Rose's eyes narrowed. Albus could tell that she did not like Diana; what was surprising though, was that Scorpius couldn't seem to keep his eyes off Diana. For some reason, Albus couldn't help but frown.

The rest of the day went beautiful, Rose Hermione Weasley obviously was sorted into Gryffindor, Diana Harriet Artemis Lovegood was sorted into Ravenclaw, Scorpius Draco Malfoy was sorted into Slytherin.

Much to everyone's surprise, Albus Severus Potter was sorted into Slytherin.

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A/N: I knew I had to put him there! I think he'd be in Slytherin or a 'Puff won't be bad… XD. I can't be OOC here cause we know, those kids don't have any REAL personality as of the Epilogue, so yeah.

And sorry for Scorpius' middle name! I can't think of anything, so I made it Draco!!!!!!! Waahhh… XD


	4. The First Potter in Slytherin

PS: I DO NOT CONSIDER JKR'S INTERVIEWS AS ANYWHERE NEAR CANON. So Harry's not the Head of the Auror Department, Hermione's not a lawyer, Ron's not an Auror, and Ginny's DEFINITELY NOT anything else but Harry's wife. And George doesn't marry anyone. .

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**Chapter 4**

**The First Potter in Slytherin**

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Being in different Houses did not seem to be a boundary for the four though, when they have time, Albus, Scorpius, Rose and Diana would usually go together. During breakfast, they would sit together; sometimes Diana would prance to the Gryffindor table to eat with Rose (who still couldn't seem to accept the fact that Diana _worships_ the Quibbler), Albus and Scorpius would do the same. Sometimes, Rose and Diana would eat at the Slytherin table, despite the onlookers; and sometimes they would go to the Ravenclaw table to eat there. And there were also those weird times that they'd just want to go to the Hufflepuff table and sit there with their fellow first years, Robert Bones and Mathilda Smith.

"So what do you think about Quidditch?" asked Scorpius, tossing an apple to Albus, who caught it easily. They were near the lake where the Giant Squid resided; the three were sitting under the shade of one of the trees while Diana was near the lake, poking one of the squid's tentacles with her wand.

"Uh… it's a great sport… but… Dad's always been a great Seeker, and Mum's, you know, a Chaser… and there's my Uncle Ron… he plays for the Chudley Cannons, if you don't know, as a Keeper… and there's Uncle George, Dad says he was one of the best Beaters…" Albus said in defeat, "I don't think I'm that good…"

Scorpius looked at him in the eye. A smirk played in his lips, "Liar."

Scorpius was right. Actually, it was just an excuse. It's not that he's not good in Quidditch, he's quite acceptable in playing. But really… he didn't want to _play_. He'd rather _watch_ and _commentate_ about it.

"I don't understand what you like about Quidditch." Said Rose, who was flipping through the book _Quidditch Through The Ages_, "People had been…" she showed them a picture of a guy who had crooked his nose, got hit in the head by a Bludger, "… injured! INJURED! And you still want to play?!"

Scorpius looked at her and said, "Well, Little Miss Know-It-All, it seems like you're not making any effort in _trying_ Quidditch. Or is it because _you_ can't fly a broomstick?"

Rose glared at him and huffed, "Excuse me, but I _can_ ride a broomstick, thankyouverymuch!" Albus sniggered a bit, "What are you laughing at?!"

"Nothing, nothing." Answered Albus.

"We're not allowed to play anyway." Rose said, returning to the book, "First years aren't allowed."

"So what?"

Rose raised a brow, "So what? _So what?_ Scorpius, you're not thinking of smuggling a broomstick, are you?"

Scorpius stared at her in bewilderment and laughed, "What an extremely perfect idea, Rose! Now, where should I smuggle the broom…" he glanced at her once more, she was fuming, "… Just kidding. It's not like I couldn't play at home. We own this large field… hey, I have an idea."

"Oh no. No. No. No! If it's anything that's seriously against the rules, I am _not_ going to do it!" Rose said.

"I haven't said anything yet!" Scorpius exclaimed. Rolling his eyes, he turned to Albus, "Well, if Rose doesn't want to, then why don't you go to our place at Christmas? We have this large field near our home where we can play Quidditch, Muggles can't see us there because Mum's made this extraordinary Muggle-barrier in it."

Albus's face lit up, "Really? Wow! I want to go! I'll go ask Dad if I could go!"

"Aren't you going to ask your mother's permission?" asked Diana, she had now come back from the tentacle-poking near the lake. Half of her robes seemed to be a little… wet. Albus shook his head, "Mum's not… well, she's stopped writing to me since the Sorting. I guess James had written to her about me being in Slytherin…"

Scorpius looked at him, "Huh?" Even Rose was listening, disguising it by making it seem that she was still reading the book.

"Well… not only that, though…" Albus immediately added, "Well… Dad's word at home was something like a law… so… my mum's just…"

"A wife?" asked Diana. Albus nodded, he was still clutching the uneaten apple.

"Poor woman." Said Scorpius, "If she was my Dad's wife, then she'll definitely have her say on things and not ignored."

"Shut up, Malfoy." They all looked where the voice came from. It was James, "You don't know Mum. You haven't seen her Bat-Bogey Hex!"

Rose rolled her eyes, sighed and shook her head; Albus was nervous. The last time the two saw each other in the grounds, they ended up being in detention for fighting. Diana on the other hand, looked mildly amused by things. How strange.

"Why, have _you_ seen your Mum's Bat-Bogey Hex?" retorted Scorpius. James stiffened; Albus knew why… it was because they haven't seen it, really. Not even his Dad. A glorious smirk came on Scorpius' lips, "At least I _know_ my Dad's got a personality."

"Shut up, Malfoy!"

"You shut up, Potter!"

"Scorpius, that's enough!" Rose slammed her book. Albus whipped his head at her, she was fuming, "James, please, just go?"

"I'm _older_ than you, Rose."

"Girls mature faster than boys, if you don't know that." She turned at Scorpius, "Scorpius, if you keep on fighting my cousin and Albus's brother, I'll write to your Dad."

"And?" Scorpius was provoking her, "It's not like you know—"

"And I'll tell him that his son has been doing something illegal." She smirked, as if she had won the argument. Scorpius gaped at her.

"Can't she even make a threat?" Scorpius whispered at Albus' ear, "My Dad has always told me to break rules every now and then!"

Scorpius then proceeded to sit beside Diana, Albus could hear him ask their friend if she wanted him to bring down some spare clothes, which Diana graciously refused. Albus wondered since when did the two had been friends…

"Listen Malfoy, if you take my brother in the wrong way…" James started. He still hadn't left.

Scorpius smirked, "Nah, I'm not interested in going _in_ the _wrong_ _way_. Besides, there's no reason to, right? That'll _feel_ extremely horrible." A malicious smile "graced" Scorpius' lips, Albus did not know how to react on it because he was rather lost.

Really lost.

He looked up at his brother who looked like he was thrown at with something rather smelly. He looked over at Rose, she had the book on her face once more, but Albus could see her ears go a brilliant shade of red. He turned at Diana, of all of them, she was the other one who looked rather confused. They looked at each other; Diana was on four, walking to Albus. She whispered on his ear, "What are they talking about?"

"I have _no idea_." He whispered back at her. She looked at him, "Do you think they're talking about Crumple-Horned Snorkacks?"

He stared at her and shrugged, "Maybe… maybe not." There she went again with her strange creatures, maybe he should introduce her to Kreacher, she might think of the house elf as some sort of Blibbering Humdinger or something.

The thought brought a smile across Albus' face, Diana looked at him with her protuberant eyes, "Is there anything funny?"

"Oh no. Not really." He immediately tried to look for something funny, he spotted Rose bickering at Scorpius once more, and pointed the two, "They're funny, aren't they?"

Diana looked at where he was pointing. A smile spread on her face, "Oh yes. It's funny. You know, Scorpius doesn't do that to girls. I think he likes her very much, as much as he likes you too." Her misty eyes brightened as she spoke. He felt his face was burning with embarrassment; he wasn't exactly a friendly person. At least he thought; then he just remembered something. He didn't know much about it but…

"Can I ask… you a question?" asked Albus.

"You already did." Answered Diana with all seriousness. Albus stared at her.

"Oh. Could I ask you another one?"

"Apparently you had done so." Before Albus could even open his mouth Diana had already spoken, "Though you could ask me one more."

"Okay… uh… how… how long have… how long you have been friends with Scorpius?" he asked, stuttering. He felt like Rita Skeeter possessed him. Diana stared at him wide-eyed, "Scorpius and I had been friends since we were little… I mean, a lot younger than I could remember!"

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Much to Albus' surprise, being a Slytherin wasn't as bad as what he was told about when he was still outside the walls of Hogwarts.

His brother had boasted of the Gryffindor Common room being the best.

The Slytherin Common room had an extremely beautiful common room, but a little different from what his brother had told them about Gryffindor common room. Scorpius said that their tower looked quite different from his father's description, but it was fine to Albus.

It was circular and large, more of dome like; emerald and silver were the main colors, though the crystalline value of the chandelier dangling at the center of the ceiling which was one of the most beautiful diamond studded chandelier Albus had seen in his entire life, was breathtaking. The wide silken olive-colored chairs were embroidered with the finest silver threads (which he mistakenly thought for as unicorn hair!) were cozy and could drift the user into a peaceful sleep.

And yes, the Slytherin Common room too had a fire place, accentuated by emeralds on the sides.

The Slytherin students weren't as bad as what people had been talking about them; they were generally nice people, some were pranksters (though a few were really _extreme_), yes, but wasn't his Uncle George and late Uncle Fred pranksters back on their young days? Terrible as it seemed, people did tend to misunderstood Slytherins for being evil, dark wizards.

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"Slytherins are living up to their name, _Al_." Scorpius mocked the unbelievable ignorance of the other boy. Albus could not help but raise a brow at the comment, "_Al_? Where the hell did you learn that?"

Scorpius cocked his head to the left, where two girls sat apparently in a heated battle of wits… in Wizard's Chess. Rose, who was rather red on the face, was obviously winning (though her "men and woman" weren't actually trying to listen to her remarks) while Diana calmly swayed as if she was hearing pleasant music as she placed a pawn on the board.

There was no way in hell that Diana would know the nickname his parents gave him. So it could only be…

"DRAT! How did _you_ win?!" Rose shrieked as Diana whistled happily collecting her pieces which were equally happy with the results of the chess game, "My dad has always been playing with me in Wizard's Chess! How can I possibly lose?!"

Diana stared at her with her wide pale eyes, a smile split her face, "Honestly, you're too stressed." She said in "a matter of fact" way.

The boys continued to look at the girls as Rose sat there bewildered at the comment. Albus sighed; it was probably not the best time to ask her about saying that his nickname was _Al_.

Sometimes he wondered if his parents' got something _against_ him that's why they called him Albus Severus. Sure, his father had named him after two Headmasters of Hogwarts… but _don't_ they have any _other name_?

"Am I _stressed_? Am I? _Am I_?" Rose scrambled at the two boys, who were backing away from her, "I'm not _stressed_! See!" she broke her face into a forced smile, "How can I be _stressed_ when I'm _smiling_?!"

The boys only looked at each other.

Girls were freaky.

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A puff of smoke was emitted by the small hut's chimney, and its window had an undeniable glow as the light passed through its mirror.

Albus, Scorpius, Rose and Diana ran towards the small hut on the grounds, their black robes billowing against the afternoon wind. They were invited by Hagrid to come by his house once again, though he wasn't that fond of Scorpius. Another puff of black smoke emanated from the small chimney.

Hagrid was back. And he was going to tell them about his adventures.

The four huffed and puffed as they arrived at the step before Hagrid's hut; it was just minutes since they got the owl from Hagrid.

They knocked on his door. No one opened it, though they could hear old Fang's excited barks and…

"Woof!" a strangely small bark-like sound reverberated from inside the hut. Scorpius paled, "Oh brother. Don't tell me he's raised wolf cubs." There was a rather strange hint of panic in Scorpius' voice. It seemed like he wasn't that friendly with animals.

Albus knocked on the door again. No one still opened it. And knocked, knocked…

Rose rolled her eyes, "Stand aside, Al."

"Don't call me _Al_." Albus retorted.

"Oh shut up, Al." she said glaring at him, Albus felt someone tugging his robe. It was Diana, she tiptoed and whispered on his ear, "I think she's up to something." Albus looked at her and sighed.

Rose closed her eyes, and with a breath she shouted, "Hagrid! If you don't open the door, I swear I will—"

The door swung open, the four jumped.

"Wha'?! Wha' exa'tly will yeh do, yeh lil 'Moine?!" Hagrid burst out of the door, he was sweating badlym "Yeh kids are…"

"You told us that you're talking to us about your adventures with Grawp! Here! And what are you hiding?" Rose straightened herself, it was plain clear that she was certainly Aunt Hermione's daughter, "I will OWL my mother and tell her that you've…" another of the small barks got her attention, she walked a bit to the right to see what Hagrid was hiding, "—oh my! How _cute_!" she exclaimed, she turned at Hagrid, her eyes brightening, "Oh, Hagrid, please, please, let me hold them! _Please_!"

Albus and Scorpius looked at each other, and Albus knew they were thinking of the same thing.

_What the heck was she talking about?!_

"Those are wolf cubs." Diana pointed as Hagrid gave way to the other girl. Okay, so she wasn't always like Hermione.

"What?!" Albus and Scorpius said in unison. From the look of Scorpius' face, he was about to faint.

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It was a nice and peaceful day at the Burrow.

Or so they thought.

_BANG! CRASH! WHHHHEEEEEEEE!!!_

A high pitched voice erupted from the kitchen, "DUNGBOMBS AGAIN?!" Molly Weasley charged from the kitchen, apron worn, wand on the right hand and a spatula on the other. Her face was flaring, and her equally flaming red hair did not make the scene any better, "Percy! Your son is wrecking havoc again!"

"Mother, how can you be sure it's _him_?" Percy asked, peacefully sipping a cup of coffee, reading the Daily Prophet. Beside him sat George, a small smirk of triumph on his face and on the other side of the table was their father, Arthur who was now tinkering a Muggle mobile phone.

Molly turned to her son, "Percy, _son_, _the_ _name says it all_."

_CRASH!_

"_FREDERICK_! COME DOWN HERE IMMEDIATELY!" Percy and George now had their hands covering their ears. Mrs. Weasley may now be a little older, but certainly she had not changed at all. And neither did Arthur Weasley.

"Now, now, Molly," started Mr. Weasley. He had now set down his favorite "playthings" a.k.a. Muggle "artifacts" (in normal people's terms, normal _stuff_), "Fred is still a child, we should let him—" A firecracker had just been set on the stairs, and Mrs. Weasley was furious, "—play."

George smiled. His twin brother might be mighty glad that Percy had named his only child after him, "So how's Penelope?" asked George, just feeling the need to ask.

Percy sipped his coffee once again, "Oh she's fine. A great Healer, my Penny. Absolutely wonderful. It's pretty nice to have breaks every now and then to spend with…" A sad smile jerked on Percy's lips as his mother brought the young Weasley from the stairs by the scruff. The small boy had a band-aid on his left face and he had the same flaming red hair that was present in the Weasley family, even the freckles were there. It was funny, because the boy looked and acted so much like, "… Fred."

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"_Slytherin? _Slytherin_?"_

"_Yeah. He's just sent me an owl."_

"_What is wrong with him?! Why is he in Slytherin?!"_

"_It's not bad; Snape was in Slytherin after all."_

"_IT IS!"_

"_I don't want to talk about it."_

"_I… Fine… See you at dinner then…"_

"_Sure."_

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A/N: Sorry for the crappy chapter, but I hope somehow you enjoyed it. Ja!


	5. The Howler, The Howled and the Hollowed

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**Chapter 5**

**The Howler, The Howled and The Hollow Christmas **

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White snow had now covered most of Hogwarts' grounds, castle and even the Forbidden Forest (which was still prohibited for students to go in there illegally); the wolf cubs raised by Hagrid were competition for Fang, the cubs obviously had a knack of sniffing crooks, like Mundungus for an instance, who were sniffing around the Forbidden Forest.

Rose, whose hair bore a striking resemblance to her mother's brown curls of hair, loved the cubs and asked Hagrid if she could _borrow_ one of them. Albus had a weird idea that she'd only use the cub to frighten Scorpius who was horribly scared of anything that had any relation to wolves, for some reason that Albus had no idea about. Diana was, as usual, talking about the Wackspurts and its symptoms, which included being fazed. Albus didn't believe it, but decided not to press the matter, Diana obviously had _too much faith_ on things like those.

"What's our next lesson?" asked Albus, who was rummaging his rucksack. They were in the Great Hall, taking lunch. Scorpius took out a small parchment from his own stuff. He took a bite of pudding first and then looked at his parchment.

"Potions… oh, Double Potions, with Professor Slughorn." Said Scorpius, "Our—"

"Head of House, yes I know about that." Albus wanted to glare at Scorpius, but he was too busy helping his self with treacle tart. However, the young Malfoy looked at him in surprise, "That's good. At least you remembered… he's not much fond of me, but he's _in love_ with you." Scorpius snorted.

Albus smirked, "_Jealous_?"

Scorpius retorted, "_You wish._"

The boys laughed, however they were hushed by the neighboring schoolmates who were taking their lunch too. All of a sudden, hoots, flapping of wings was heard and there were more hushing as 100, or maybe 500 or probably more than 1,000 owls swooped down the hall, bringing sweets, Daily Prophets, The _Quibbler_s, and letters for the students. However, a single red note went flying towards Albus' direction, and landed right in front of him.

"_Howle_r…" muttered Scorpius. He looked at Al with a bewildered expression. Surely who—

The Howler burst open. An unknown voice of a woman erupted from the letter, booming and resounding on the four walls of the Great Hall.

"_SLYTHERIN! SLYTHERIN?! WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO BE IN SLYTHERIN, ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER?! WHY DID YOU SHAME OUR FAMILY'S NAME?! I WAS IN GRYFFINDOR, YOUR FATHER WAS IN GRYFFINDOR TOO! YOUR UNCLE RONALD, AUNT HERMIONE—" it was his mother's voice. Ginny's not-so-beautiful voice through the Howler gave Albus the impression that she wasn't anywhere near impressed that he was in Slytherin, "—EVEN MY BROTHERS WERE IN GRYFFINDOR! YOUR FATHER'S PARENTS WERE ALSO IN GRYFFINDOR! YOU ARE SUCH A MONGREL TO OUR FAMILY! FOUL, DISGUSTING—_"

Albus felt like his insides were going to explode as he heard his own mother, belittling him in front of his fellow students. Though he knew that his mother's "timid" suggestions wouldn't change a bit of his father's decision, something inside the young Potter seemed to dissolve and felt like some kind of water-beaten pulp of paper; she was usually nice and warm to him, and complimented him, especially about his looks. The horrible feeling of unwantedness wasn't lovely at all.

"--_LITTLE PIECE OF UNWANTED-- I HAD NEVER THOUGHT THAT YOU, YOU WHO LOOK LIKE YOUR FATHER WOULD EVER BE IN SLYTHERIN! YOU ARE UNWORTHY OF BEING __HARRY__POTTER'S SON_!"

As the last note of the high-pitched, gut-wrenching thunderous voice of his mother resounded in the Great Hall, the Howler burst into flames, engulfed and burned into ash. Albus felt a stinging pain somewhere in his chest and great lump of something terrible in his throat; he stood up, grabbed his bag and rushed outside the hall. He tried to keep his eyes open, but childish tears were stinging them until they water, making him uncomfortable and close his eyes; he could feel that students' eyes were following his tracks, or probably laughing their backs off because a Slytherin got a Howler.

He ran, passing under Peeves who was unscrewing some lamps, passing right before the odd portrait of Sir Cadogan who wanted to challenge him to a duel on the left, and even past Hagrid who turned around to see who the unruly young boy, who bumped into him without apologizing, was.

However, there was something that bothered him more than his mother disowning him because he was Sorted into Slytherin.

It probably meant that she'll not let him stay with the Malfoys for the Christmas Vacation.

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"Idiot, you shouldn't have let something like that bother you." Scorpius rolled his eyes. Albus knew that his fellow Slytherin was thinking of him as a little whining kid without any backbone, "Don't overreact over small things like that."

Rose nodded her head in agreement, "He's right. Aunt Ginny might be just, you know, surprised about you being in Slytherin and all."

"But why did she have to owl me just a week before Christmas Vacation? She should've done so months ago!" exclaimed Albus. He felt like his mother was did it on purpose, and even though he did not think too much about it, he was starting to hold a grudge against his own mother.

"Albus Severus has a point Rose." said a vague voice that belonged to their dotty Ravenclaw, Diana. She was prodding a small weed like plant. Again, they were under the same tree they sat under in months before; somehow, they felt drawn to the place for some odd reason, "I'm quite sure that they were notified by your brother; I think I saw him go to the Owlery the day after your Sorting… although I think parents will have their ways in knowing what House their children was Sorted in."

Albus felt like he had eaten something inedible as he felt a weight on his stomach… so it was his brother… but then again, even though James had always teased him to the extreme, Albus couldn't think of why his brother would be angry at him, or vice-versa. However there was this huge question mark in his mind about his mother's Howler…

"…_I HAD NEVER THOUGHT THAT YOU, YOU WHO LOOK LIKE YOUR FATHER WOULD EVER BE IN SLYTHERIN! YOU ARE UNWORTHY OF BEING _HARRY_POTTER'S SON__!"_

He fell flat on his back, feeling the snow tickle him at his nape, under the shade of the tree, feeling the cool breeze of winter ruffling his hair…

"Hey, we still have a class with Professor Slughorn." Albus opened his eyes, Scorpius' face was just inches away from his; he felt rather hot on the face. Scorpius pulled away and sniggered, "He would look for you, seeing that he's _madly in love_ with _your eyes_."

Albus rolled his eyes and pulled himself up, "Yeah, right. Whatever." Rose and Diana giggled, "What?"

Rose was the first who stopped laughing and answered blithely, "Nothing." Albus raised his brow; Rose nudged Diana's ribs, as if telling her to stop laughing.

"We saw you blush. Are you gay or something?" said Diana, she was staring at him with her piercing eyes. However, he gaped unbelievingly at her.

"G-gay?!" he exclaimed. The two girls looked at each other and giggled again; so this was their way of bonding… Albus-teasing. Great, first he had his brother, then Scorpius, now Rose and Diana. _Great. Just great._

"Well, I think you should go now, you'll be late." Said Rose, as she stood up, pursing her lips as if suppressing her self to giggle. Diana stood up too, "I got History of Magic for next class, and Diana's got Herbology, so if you want to skip classes, we're not. Good day." Smiled Rose as she walked away, swinging her books happily.

"What's with her?" Albus asked Diana.

"Oh, I don't know. She was really happy since yesterday… although I think the Wackermantles had infected her with _Happiness Sickness_." Replied Diana. She reached out her hand to Albus who was still sitting on the snow covered grass.

"Thanks." Said Albus as he took her hand.

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London had its fare share of snow as chimneys emitted foggy smokes and heaters turned on; people walk in their thickest clothes, although there are still some who would rather die than be seen in such outlandish clothing such as billowing cloaks…

In a certain number at Grimmauld Place, a married pair was arguing.

"You what?!" a rather young-looking man exclaimed. His messy mop of jet-black hair was sticking up in the back, his brilliant green eyes clearly seen through the rim of his round glasses. He had just come home from work.

"I just… sent him a Howler… _that's all_. _Proper treatment_ should do it." A woman replied meekly, although the stress on her words could be clearly heard. Her flaming red hair was tied in a messy bun, a wand on her right hand and a kettle on her left, she had been cleaning the house since her husband had asked Kreacher to do something for him.

"A_ Howler_?! Ginny, what did you do that for?!" Harry shouted. The woman before him flinched, "Don't tell me you still _can't get over_ the fact that Al is Slytherin?!"

"Well… yes. Harry, listen to me…"

"Didn't you hear me when I said that it was _fine _even if he's in Slytherin! Weren't you listening?!"

"Yes… but…"

"You have to apologize to _my_ son." Said Harry. When he was about to leave again, he asked, "Did you prepare dinner? Kreacher couldn't do it."

Ginny nodded fervently, her brown eyes glittering with happiness, and her lips wide with smile, "Yes, yes, I have! You told me to make a _steak_—"

"I'm not going to eat here tonight. I still got work to do; I'll come back tomorrow morning." Harry replied monotonously, and with a _pop_, he Apparated.

Ginny's smile that usually was enough to make Harry look at her seductively, was wiped off from her face. She wondered if Harry's sudden change of heart to her had something to do with the young girl who simply reminded Ginny of a fellow D.A. member…

And then…

"Wait, Harry _doesn't _have any work!" she gasped.

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"So are you signing up?" asked Rose. Albus nodded, "But what about Christmas at the Burrow? We can't miss that out!" They were in the Library, researching for their Potions class; Diana and Scorpius couldn't come, for some unknown reason.

"Well, I still got loads of stuff to do…" lied Albus as he took a book from the stack of books from the table and shoved it under his nose, pretending to read it, "… and I still have an eight-inch essay to do for _History of Magic_, and you know how _boring_ it is…"

"Boring? _Boring_?! It's not boring! It's _fascinating_!" exclaimed Rose, gaining 'shh's' from other students, she ducked her head low, blushing before she too, took a book and started reading it.

Albus stared at the book. Now that he had thought about it… how was life going to be when he goes home from his first year at Hogwarts? Basing from his mother's Howler, she wasn't too happy; his mind wandered to his father, what would _he_ think about it? How about GrandMum Weasley, who always placed Gryffindor up above everything else (aside from the family, of course)? How about GrandDad Weasley? How about his little sister, Lily?

"Al, you're reading your book upside down."

"Oh, yeah… I just wanted to know what it looks like when it's upside down… ha ha ha…" he lied, although he wasn't exactly sure if Rose believed him, she was raising her brows at him.

Turning the book right side up, Albus Severus had made a decision.

He was going to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas.

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"So you're really staying here?" asked James, who had just come from the pitch. He was wearing red Quidditch robes, a broom on his left hand, and a Quaffle at the other, "Did you tell Dad? How about Mum?"

Albus shook his head, "I'll be sending them an owl, I guess…"

"An owl? An _owl_?!" James stared at him incredulously, "Are you sure that _Mum_ will just let _you_ slip with an _owl_? I'm telling you, if you know what's best for you, _don't owl Mum_. She'll be furious… her most fav—" he gulped, "You know, I think it's a good idea if you stay. Mum will _murder_ you when you come home."

"Hurry, James!" a member of the Gryffindor Quidditch team shouted, taking the boys' attention.

"Well, smell ya later, Al." said James as he turned and ran back to his team mates. Albus stared at him as he tried to remember where he had hear that line…

_Smell ya later_? _Where did I hear that? Oh yeah… That was Gary's line in Pokemon… Brother, that's lame… even by Gryffindor standards…_

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In some part of London, a man in his early thirties walked aimlessly under the snowy sky, dragging along his seemingly heavy feet. Harry Potter still couldn't get over the idea of the young girl he had seen months earlier.

Her dirty-blonde hair, the unique sense of style, and her pale misty eyes… his heart felt like something was constricting it rather hard, and it became rather painful. He dug his hands deeper in his coat's pockets, trying to shrug off the coldness that was creeping inside him, and he doubt it had something to do with the snow.

"Pssht! 'arry!" someone called his name. Harry swiveled his head, looking for the source of the voice.

With a _pop_, he was faced with a man with bloodshot eyes and extremely shabby clothes, and a smell—or stink—of firewhisky was extremely lucid.

"Dung." Harry said. The crook nodded in acknowledgement, "Gotta talk to ya. Meet me at the ol' Leaky." And with another _pop_ he Disapparated. Harry felt a light erupt in his soul, could it be that Mundungus had finally found… there was only one way to find out. With yet another _pop_, he Apparated.

Little did he know was that he was being followed.

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The rather dimly lit Wizarding pub wasn't full of people as what Harry expected it to have; it was rather deserted, with only two wizards and a witch cuddling in a corner, and another wizard—or was it a witch—in a heavy cloak and what seemed to be a stack of ragged cloths. However, they weren't the person he was looking for. Tom the barman had waved to him.

"'ere, 'arry!" the ragged cloths moved, had a hand and waved crookedly at Harry. Despite his attempt to murder the guy twice, he had found it rather advantageous to know Mundungus.

"So how did it go?" asked Harry. Mundungus stretched out a palm, he was asking for a "tip"; however, Harry knew better. With a scathing look, he said, "I'm not giving anything unless your information is _good_, the last time, I gave you ten Galleons and all you said was that _she_ had left her home years ago."

The bloodshot eyed man grunted in annoyance, "Okay, okay… 'ere's w'at I got from the _underground_…" he whispered, looking left and right, "'hat girl ya talking… got screwed up by some guy when 'he was taking 'er trip around the world… 'ad kids, just year after 'he left again… and 'he was last seeb in Knockturn Alley."

"What?!" Harry exclaimed, making some of the costumers jump from their seats. He composed his self again; with a deep breath, he asked again, "Are you sure?"

"A 'undred percent, witnesses everyw'ere I went! But 'arry, the girl 'asn't been seen for the last 11 years so if I were yah I'd forget that girl… but… aren't yah married?" asked Mundungus.

_Damn, he's getting to smart._

"Here's the Galleons," Harry said, taking a handful of coins from his moleskin pocket. But before he gave them, he pulled the sober drunkard by the collars, "Listen, you _will not say this to anyone. No one should know I asked you to look for her, understand_?"

"Yah, yah! I understand t'at! Fine!" Mundungus replied exasperatingly as he grabbed the Galleons from Harry's palms. And then, he left looking contented, if not happy. Harry frowned. So that girl he had seen must've been her child, nevertheless, he wasn't contented unlike Mundungus. He felt like he was missing something he shouldn't have… and more importantly, _where was she?_

Beyond his table, another person wasn't happy. Brown eyes glared scathingly at the man, hidden by a black veil. What was he doing? Why did he talk to Mundungus without her knowing? And who was the girl Harry looking for? Wasn't she, Ginevra Weasley, enough to keep Harry from looking at other women? Could it be that he had an affair with the only female entity she was sure who wasn't a threat to her place as Harry's sole _source of comfort and normality? _

"The _cheater!" _she murmured scornfully.

Harry stood up from the table, looked around and left without a word. And so did the witch hidden in the veil.

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"You're going to _what_?!"

"I'll be staying here, for Christmas!"

"Got it all planned."

"Don't tell me you two…"

"Three actually, Albus Severus."

"What?!"

Albus gawked at the other three first years who were beaming at him; Rose had sent an owl to her parents, saying that she was going to study for her exam, Scorpius said he had always planned it since he was a seven year old (although, Albus strongly suspected that he just made it up), and Diana… well, because she wanted to (at least he couldn't doubt that one.). The three had decided that they were going to be Albus' company during Christmas, for some reason that they did not reveal to him. His brother, James, however, had told him that he will be the one to send an owl to their parents to tell them that 'his _baby _brother couldn't go back for Christmas'. (James' own words)

"Why?" he looked at them in bewilderment as they walked along the right wing corridor of the second floor. Scorpius rolled his eyes while Rose raised her brows, Diana looked at the both of them, looking as if they were going to have a picnic.

"So you'd rather have us not here?" Rose crossed her arms, "Huh?"

"O-of c-course not!" said Albus, turning his back on them, hiding the blush that was creeping on his young face.

"Are you blushing?" asked Diana, catching the boy off-guard.

"N-no! I-It's not l-like that!" he turned to face them, unaware that he was still red in the face. A mocking smirk was plastered on Scorpius' lips as he saw the look on Albus' face. Rose and Diana smiled at each other. Albus felt like he was being played at by the three and stormed off, now that was something he had _learned_ from his mother. His mother… his eyes squinted immediately as he felt like something had hit him… a woman… a faceless woman, she was crying… who was she?

In his mind, he wanted to turn back and thank them for staying here, but at the moment, he couldn't do so and was confused about it. Why did he feel like there was something _incredibly_ wrong with things? Why? He felt a tinge of pain in his chest as he swiveled at the next corner, passing by Professor McGonagall and Professor Hagrid who dropped their voices as he passed by, not that he cared though. He went down to the dungeons and entered the Slytherin Common room, went straight to the boys' dormitory and immediately slumped on his bed.

There was something wrong in him, he didn't know what it was, but something… he suddenly felt terrible, as if a part of him was grieving, as if a part of him was in misery… he immediately thought of a nameless woman alone… who was she? She was definitely not his mother, Ginny, because the woman he saw didn't have the Weasley signature flaming red hair… then why did he think of that woman when he tried to remember his _mother_? It did not make any sense at all!

Albus rolled to his belly, grabbed a green pillow and covered his head's exposed back and pretended to be asleep, although he wasn't sure if Scorpius would bite it though, his friend was obviously smarter than what his Uncle Ronald had been telling them.

The ebony haired boy felt uneasy with his position, so he rolled sideways, so that he was on his right side. He could see the Slytherin door swing open, with a sleek white-blonde haired boy enter the room with an air of smugness that only a Malfoy could possess. Scorpius stopped by Albus's bunk, stared at it, and then went to his own, which was directly next to Albus'. Albus had heard Scorpius' bed creak, he must've sat on it, or laid on it…

"You're the best actor I had ever seen, let alone the best liar." A voice heavy with irony escaped from the other bed's occupant, "You know, lying is a part of life that you fail so much."

He knew it. _He knew Scorpius would know_.

Albus rolled over to see his friend; true enough, the young Slytherin was sitting on the bed, crosslegged.

"Got you, didn't I?" a proud sneer was visible on Scorpius' face, "You should take up acting as a profession, you must be the greatest actor I had seen in my entire lifetime."

Albus leered at him, "Shut up."

"Do I now?" it was rather provoking, talking to Scorpius when he was not in his right mood.

"Yeah. Now leave me alone."

"You are, if you don't mind me staying here."

Albus glared at him; however, Scorpius just stared at him, a half-bemused, half-smug look on his eyes.

"Spill it out, Albus, or do you want me to spill it out for you?" Said Scorpius, resting his chin on his hand. Albus raised a brow.

"What are you talking about?"

"You staggered, stupid. We saw you stagger while you were being such a drama queen." He said.

"So?" Scropius rolled his eyes.

"Fine, if you're not really telling, I'll tell for you. Are you some kind of Seer?"

The crickets chirped and Albus Severus had just felt a strong breeze pass through them although they were in a closed room.

And then he laughed.

"SEER?!" he exclaimed, laughing in betweens, "Who gave you that idea?!" Scorpius stared at him darkly, as if not impressed at all with what Albus said; the other boy then rolled his eyes, pulled the blanket of his bed and pushed the curtains over his area.

"Ha!?" Albus exclaimed.

"I have _PMS_, don't talk to me." An extremely annoyed Scorpius replied.

"_P…MS_?" Albus stared at the other bunk, clueless. Now there were three things he was going to worry about. One was his mother, two was the woman in his _vision_, and third was Scorpius who acted odd after he laughed.

And… what was _PMS_?!

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An ornate steel gate, blackened by time, with ivy vines climbing up in the concrete walls swept open. A cloaked figure walked gracefully despite the path being covered by thick white snow; small footprints could be seen as she swept her way through. Upon reaching on the onyx front door, a bustling voice flitted from the figure's lips.

"Open up, the chimney's broken and I think I lost my _license_ to Apparate."

"Not my fault you lost it." An unmistakable drawling voice seemed to echo in the grounds, "Find another way inside."

"…" the figure sighed. "Fine, I'll do it my way and I'm going to hex my way in, if damaging our property is what you want."

Upon raising the wand, the door flew open and an annoyed older-looking Draco Malfoy leered with great exasperation at the person before him. The cloaked figure removed its hood, revealing a woman in her late twenties, with shoulder-length ebony black hair and brilliant blue eyes smiled mischievously at him.

"I thought I'd have to find another way inside, why'd you open the door?"

"You win _this_ time—"

"I _always_ win."

"—because I know you're _really_ going to destroy the manor and this is _ancient_. I know I'm filthy rich, but the cost to rebuild even a tiny place in this house will be disastrous." Replied Draco in an uncharacteristically fast manner of speaking. "I know you more than anyone else, _Stellar_."

"Oh, you remembered." The woman called Stellar continued to smile, "That's fascinating, for a person _like you_."

"Oh shut up and get inside already, you're going to have a cold and Lyra will cry horribly again if she'll wake up and think she's lost sight of you." He made way for her to come inside. He winced as he saw the mud tracks that she made on the ivory made steps; raising his wand, he muttered, "_Scourgify_." His mouth twisted into a triumphant smirk: it was the first time he'd used the spell and did not backfire.

The inside of Malfoy Manor had been a lot better ever since the Dark Lord had evacuated the place; the family that moved in hadn't renovated the house, but rather, made it a little fit for a place where children will be taught not to use the word "Mudblood" anymore. Not that Draco wasn't against it, of course.

It was just that he didn't want _her_ to leave again.

Draco watched as Stellar removed the heavy cloak from her body, revealing a sapphire blue witch's dress and black slippers underneath. She was holding a moleskin pouch on her right hand, and at her left hand was her wand.

"So were you able to find it? The _mythical_ white flower—"

"Of Leroy? Of course I did, you know I'm _obviously awesome_." She said, in a haughty manner that rivals that of a pureblood. Draco raised a brow, not only because of her tone, but because she carelessly threw the wet cloak on his most favorite chair. He swore to his self that he'd try to be civil most of the times, but she was just really _annoying_ most of the times too.

"Do you _really_ think _that's_ effective?" he asked, walking to her as she rummaged the inside of the moleskin pouch, "It's a _mythical herb_, Stellar. It's not even in any potions books I've had."

She nodded reassuringly, and then returned at looking for something in the pouch. "I'm not asking you to believe it, but since this must be the only—"

"Alternative way. I _know_." Continued Draco.

"No, you _don't_." she said; Draco flinched. Stellar stopped and looked at him, she frowned, "Sorry."

"It's fine." Lied Draco smoothly, "You must thank that my parents are now both… passed on, or they would've_ Crucioed_ you to infinity by now."

"Nasty liar." She commented offhand, "But that's very nice of you. Ah, found it." She pulled her hand out of the pouch. Draco leaned over her to see the mythical flower. It was pure white: petals, stigma, stems… and Draco could bet that the _polley grays_—or whatever they were called—were pure white too.

"It's beautiful." Breathed Stellar as she seemed to be enthralled with the flower.

"Yeah…" Draco muttered, although he wasn't looking at the flower of Leroy.

"You said something?" she asked.

"Nothing." He lied again.

"Horrible. You're a completely horrible liar, Draco Malfoy." She commented again, placing the fragile-looking flower on the serpent-supported table in the sitting room. A frown painted her young face as she gazed the flower, "What… what if it couldn't help us… her?" she looked at Draco with a bothered look on her visage, "What if… the only way was _unicorn's blood_ after all?! I… I couldn't let… half-life…" she muttered, then proceeded to stare at the ground. She hunched her back as she covered her mouth with her hand.

"Stellar!" he shouted. Draco felt a punishing twist in his chest as he saw Stellar throw up on the floor, with only the arm of the chair as her support; without thinking, he relied on his instincts and took her in his arms.

"Dra…co…" she whimpered on his chest. She cried and cried until her face was all blotchy and red, but he did not care what she looked like.

"Sshh… _she's_ already asleep… and Lyra too…" he felt rather uncomfortable doing the act, he wasn't _really_ that—gag—sweet to anyone, although, of course, since she was… well, someone he _should_ be sweet to, he _had _to. He felt her grab a handful of his cloak, and wiped her tears.

Then she sneezed at it.

"_STELLAR_! THAT'S… _GROSS_!" he shouted.

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"_Ring Christmas bells, merrily ring…_"

'-us…'

_Stop that…_

'-ei…'

_I'm sleeping…_

'—lbus…'

_Shut up… I'm trying to sleep…_

Albus slightly opened his emerald eyes when he saw a big fat emerald pillow shouting at him. "Albus, wake up, you potato couch!" It was flying towards Albus… wait! A pillow? Shouting? When did—?

"Mmf!" the round pillow had hit Albus squarely between the eyes as he pulled his self up, without even having his eyes open wide. At least he should be thankful that he didn't. "What was _that_ for?" he snarled at his room mate, who was also still in bed. Albus sat on the edge of his bed and threw the pillow back at Scorpius, who easily dodged the cushion.

"Merry Christmas, four-green-eyed heir of Slytherin, prince of all Darkness." Smirked Scorpius, mocking a bow at Albus. Albus glared at the other boy, who then proceeded to take presents from the end of his bed.

Albus looked at the foot of his bed and found a small stack of presents for him too. "Open up those." He heard Scorpius. His own eyes were traveling from the number of presents for him, although… Albus felt his lips down into a frown.

"What's the problem?" asked Scorpius, who was now sitting on Albus' bed.

"N-nothing." Replied Albus, although his lips were trembling rather horribly. Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Don't play me stupid, Albus."

"It's nothing really."

"Shut it. Lies, really, as if I couldn't see it right through your _Gryffindor _brain—"

"I'm _not_ Gryffindor, I'm _Slytherin_, so quit it."

Scorpius' eyes was traveling on the ceiling already, "I _know_. What do you think of me? I've got jinxed by a spell to make me forget that _you're here in Slytherin as a member of the House_?" Albus no longer replied. He was rather fixated at the presents on his bed. Scorpius raised a brow, as he reached out for a box, "Hmmm… this is from… aw, _Uncle_ _Ron _and _Aunt Hermy Weasley_—" he threw it to Albus and took another one, "—another one from Big Brother _Jamie_ and _Lily_, who's this _Lily_?—"

"It's _James_." Corrected Albus, as he caught the box labeled from James. "And Lily would be my younger sister."

"—oh… another red-head like Jamie, is she?" asked Scorpius, Albus nodded, "Oh well, not that I'm interested… oh, look—" Scorpius proceeded on reading the card, "—Uncle George it says—" he threw another, "—and… Uncle Perce, Aunt Penny and little Fred. Another here's from god-father… uh… what's this… poor writing… OUCH! What the HECK is IN _that_?!" Scorpius dropped the package which was now vibrating horrendously on the floor.

Albus snatched the note away from Scorpius and read:

"_Happy Christmas, Al! – Hagrid"_

"It's from Hagrid." Said Albus, smiling, although when he was about to take the package, it snapped his hand. "Ah! What the…"

"Do you think that's something _dangerous_, like wolves?"

"You can't package a _wolf_, Scorpius… unless he put a spell on it…"

"But he _doesn't_ have any wand!"

"You sure he _doesn't_?"

"No… but I think… I remembered Dad telling me that Hagrid's wand was snapped into two by the Ministry…" Scorpius eyed the snapping package warily.

"Maybe he still has it…" said Albus. He looked at Scorpius, "What do we do about _that_?"

"I have no idea…" frowned Scorpius, "Wait… I do remember Mum doing something with her wand… something like…" he brandished his wand from his pillow, "_Mobilicorpus!_"(1)

Ropes appeared from the wand, tangling the package in a knot. It was still struggling to be free when Albus poked it with his own wand. The ropes snapped. Albus and Scorpius looked at each other.

"Do you have any alternatives?" asked Albus.

"Nope."

And in unison, "Darn."

They both eyed the package: the "present" was now gnawing its way out of the wrapper, and Albus had just seen Scorpius gulp. It seemed like Scorpius didn't like Hagrid's kind of Christmas present, and neither did he; Scorpius pointed the emerald pillows, then at the package. Albus understood.

"1…" Albus grabbed the nearest pillow.

"2…" Scorpius was now on the far edge of his bed, staring menacingly at the package, although he was sweating. Albus was sure it wasn't because of the heat.

"… 3!" they shouted as they lounged at the package.

_BAM!_

And they bumped into each other's foreheads in the process. Albus' eyes were already watery from the pain of the impact so he didn't catch on what was happening at the moment. It took him a minute or two before he was stirring back into life. The first thing he saw was Scorpius' handsome face laughing his heart out, his gray eyes full of life and his sleek blonde hair was now messy as he pointed at something. Albus traced the blonde's hand and beneath the emerald pillows and tattered wrapping paper, he saw a limp small book: "The Snapping Book of Snapping Spells and Snapping Jinxes." It was rather small and it was colored…

"It's _pink_! _PINK_!" laughed Scorpius, tapping the mattress of his bunk like crazy. "It's _PINK_!" Albus couldn't help but smirk. Pink.

Seriously, Hagrid has a fetish for anything _pink_.

So much for the moment of happiness that Albus felt. He had opened the presents from most of his family: James and Lily had given him a package of _Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans_; his Uncle George had given him _Skiving Snackboxes_ for some reason he'd rather not know; his Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione had given him several pieces of sugar quills; Hagrid, well, the _pink_ book; his Uncle Percy and Aunt Penelope gave him books; his Uncle Bill, Aunt Fluer gave him some cool merchandise from Egypt… a frown twisted from his lips.

"Why does _she_ always insist these?" snarled Scorpius. Albus looked over at him and saw him holding a small necklace.

"What's that?" asked Albus, trying to keep his mind off from his own presents to avoid disappointment. Scorpius held up the necklace: it was glittery and sparkly with the word: _"Scorpie_". Albus snorted, "Who's that from? Your _girlfriend_?"

Scorpius scowled, "No. It's from my sister, _Lyra_. She keeps on giving me these… horrid jewelries, and she wants me to _wear_ them! Ugh… my Mum used to do that before she left home." Albus thought he had seen Scorpius' pale face get a tinge of color pink when he said that.

"She _left_?" asked Albus. Scorpius grunted.

"Yeah… went traveling… years ago, with Mrs. Lovegood, since both of them love _mythical_ things, apparently." Said Scorpius, who was now taking the wrap of another gift, "Left me and Lyra with Dad at our Manor. Not that I hate her because of that, she was nice though because she showed up when I was leaving for Hogwarts… you saw her, she was that woman with my Dad on the train station."

"Oh." Said Albus and then added immediately, "She's pretty."

Scorpius raised a brow at him, "What? You think she's pretty?"

"Why?"

"No… nothing. I think my Mum's rather _plain_, it's just the way she carries her clothes." He said, offhandedly, "I mean… there are a lot of women who has black hair, and blue eyes, so she's really nothing special…"

"Do you hate your mother?" asked Albus, more on impulse. Scorpius looked at him, and Albus couldn't understand what his expression was that at the moment.

"No… no, I don't think so… I'm just a bit upset…" he said, "I mean… she left us when we were still little, so I'm not really attached to her… but Lyra is. Enough about that, what's up with you and you're being so talkative right now?"

"Huh?" Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"You're not the kind of person who thinks of other people's emotions too much, Albus. Don't think that we didn't notice, it's too obvious. If I'm oblivious to people's sentiments, you're a lot worse."

"It's nothing."

"Seriously?" asked Scorpius as he left his bunk and walked over to Albus.

"I told you—" he wanted to speak but Scorpius pushed him on the bed, flat on his back. Scorpius leaned over to him, his hand on Albus' shoulder to keep him from moving. He was just inches away…"—h-hey!" Albus stuttered.

"You're not a good liar, Albus." Breathed Scorpius; Albus could feel his warm breath entering his nostrils. Although he wasn't entirely sure if it was because of the heat, or something else… it was getting rather harder to breathe.

Scorpius's eyes darted to the presents, and then he left Albus still lying on the bed to look over at the heap of gifts. Albus could feel his heart beat a million times faster, _what the heck was that for?!_

"Ah…" a dawn of understanding was seen on Scorpius' face after he counted the presents and checked them. "Still upset, is she?"

"Aa…" muttered Albus, "Not that I blame her… I'm probably the only Slytherin to have ever existed in the Weasley and Potter family for generations."

His mother had given a small package. A small Knut-sized chocolate toffee.

"Che. How pathetic. What kind of parent would do that to her children? What's with this _mother hen_ attitude?"

"Mother hen?"

"Yeah. Mother hen. My mum usually tells us of this Muggle story—"

"Muggle story?! I thought you were _purebloods_?!"

"—shut up, or do you want me to push you again?" Scorpius snarled. Albus stared at him wide-eyed and shut his mouth. He didn't want that to happen _ever again_. He couldn't take the shame of blushing _heavily_ because of another _boy_. "Finally… she usually tells us Muggle stories when we were still kids, and one of them was about this Mother Hen. This Mother Hen has _her_ ideals on what her chicks would be—are you familiar with chickens, because, oh okay, I thought you don't—okay, where was I? Ah, yeah, her chicks… if any of her chicks wouldn't do what she wants, she treats them badly and favors other chicks… it sounds like some pureblood crazy chicken who doesn't want her _wants_ to be done… anyway, your mother seems to be _like that_."

Albus stared at him, Scorpius stared back.

"You're wrong." muttered Albus. He couldn't believe that the person he treated as a friend would say something like that about his mother…

"Excuse me?"

"You're wrong… my mother is not like that!" he could feel his voice rising, "My mother… my mother is my father's _ideal_ girl!"

Scorpius scowled, "Gah, open your eyes, Albus. Don't be blinded by things such as _ideals_. Ideals _don't_ exist. They're figment of the minds of the weak who want to delude themselves into thinking that such _perfect comforts_ exist. Wake up to reality, Albus."

"No! No! No! YOU'RE WRONG! That's not true! My mother is my father's ideal! There's nothing wrong with her!" he shouted, however, Scorpius just looked at him blankly. Gray orbs caught brilliant green eyes. It was a mixture of pity and disgust… Albus grit his teeth. He took his robe, left the bed, gifts, the room and Scorpius.

He felt hot tears staining his cheeks as he stomped out of the dungeons, passing through the Bloody Baron (it was like being dipped on an ice-filled lake), a couple of other people… it was like when he got his Howler. Something in his mind told him that Scorpius was right… what if his mother was like the Mother Hen? What if… his father was just as deluded as Scorpius thought Albus was about his mother? What if everything that Scorpius said was true?

25th of December, on the year 2016… Albus felt that it was the most miserable and hollow Christmas of his entire life.

Or so he thought.

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(1) _Mobilicorpus _-- _I'm_ not sure if it's the one incantation which ropes appear and bind a person, feel free to tell me if otherwise.

A/N: So… how's the most boring and lengthiest chapter yet in the fanfiction? I'm prodding you to review the fanfiction, it's just a click away! Yes, I _do_ accept flames, although of course, it's much better if you say something constructive for the fic. And yes, I do love OCs. And YES, I DO SHIP ALBUS SEVERUS/SCORPIUS, since I can't have Harry/Draco. And yes, I do NOT like Ginny's development in TDH. And I do not think that the Potters have a very healthy family life, no matter how the Epilogue was written. Can somebody tell me if they know someone—anyone—who was happily married for 19 years and built their relationship on chest monsters? Thanks!


	6. Scourgify

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**Chapter 6**

**Scourgify**

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_Clink. Clink. Clink._

Glasses clank unceremoniously as a bottle of firewhisky was swayed on the air and put down with a thud on the antique table. The room was medium sized, big enough for an adult person, on the walls were posters of different famous Quidditch female players, and a poster of the Weird Sisters. There was a single window in the room, which was positioned right before the antique table. There were five to six bottles scattered on the table's feet and a woman with fiery red locks was sitting with a bottle on her right, and a glass on her left.

A set of big tennis ball sized eyes popped as the house-elf gasped at his master's wife's antics.

"Mistress Ginevra," croaked Kreacher, "please stop drinking, Master Harry—" Ginny swung the half-empty bottle at the house elf, almost hitting it. "Mistress Ginevra is bad! Master Harry doesn't even hit Kreacher—"

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!" exclaimed Ginny in a throaty voice, the firewhisky was getting the better of her; her eyes were all blemished and red, she had been crying, "LEAVE ME ALONE!" Throwing the bottle on the floor with a crash, Ginny brandished her wand and was about to jinx the house elf when Kreacher scampered out of the room.

"The blood-traitor—" Kreacher hissed as he left.

Ginny twirled her wand and the door slammed shut; with a flick of her wand, the candles inside the room were lit alive. She looked at her wand, and looked at the broken shards of bottle on the floor. She scowled, knowing that it was the last bottle with the glorious firewhisky which she needed badly at the moment.

A frown seemed to be eternally etched on her face as she slumped on the chair even more; she placed her hand on her face and wiped the tears away. '_I must look beautiful for Harry…_' she thought, or rather, chanted on her mind, '_I must look beautiful for Harry…_" On the fifth chant, she bawled loudly. She hated this life. She really hated being just inside the four walls of Grimmauld Place. She hated being just here and do everything Harry tells her to do. She hated the fact that she had regretted that she married Harry.

She was lucky that she insisted that Lily should go to the Burrow, if Lily saw her like this… she couldn't bear the thought.

Ginny stood up and staggered to the bed, but she stumbled and fell to the floor. She pushed herself up—she had suddenly fleetingly recalled the time when she was doing _it_ with Harry with her on top of him—she brushed the idea aside, grabbed the edge of the bed and pulled herself at least to be able to lean on the side of the bed.

She bit her lower lip and closed her eyes.

_Why did everything go wrong? Why?_

It had been thirteen years since she and Harry got married. Thirteen years of happy marriage-or so she was deluding herself on.

She must accept that she wasn't a bit happy ever since she became Mrs. Potter; it wasn't because of Skeeter's _misleading_ acclaims that she was already pregnant when Harry married her. It wasn't the fact that she had lost Neville's love when she married Harry.

It was the fact that Harry did not marry her whole-heartedly.

It wouldn't take an Order of Merlin just to notice the lack of enthusiasm and emotions that Harry displayed when they were married. It was perhaps the _omen_ of their disastrous marriage.

But she doesn't have the nerve to tell him her biggest secrets… she can't yet… her mind wandered to Harry's son, Al… the only son of Harry who looked exactly as he was, except that he did not have his scar… the only proof that…

She sobbed even greater. No matter how many times she commanded herself to stop crying, to look tough, and to be feisty… she simply couldn't be someone she wasn't. She can't.

But that Ginny was the one that got Harry's attention, that Ginny was the one who managed to capture what Harry wanted in his ideal girl.

Warm, compassionate; gutsy, tough, but in a good way…

Ginny ran her hand through her thick Weasley hair and shrieked as loudly as she can when she pulled her hair in frustration.

Harry was cheating on her.

She knew it was going to happen sooner or later… but couldn't it wait until Lily was already in Hogwarts—away from the fight that may ensue, away from the truth—Ginny curled up and pulled her legs to her chest. She felt like she was once again under the influence of Tom Riddle… she was growing more and more unknown to her own self… she was getting worried… worried that she might blow up any minute…

But who was the woman? Who was the woman who Harry was looking for? Hell will break loose if it was Cho Chang… but wasn't she playing for the Tornadoes, so why would Harry look for her? Certainly not Hermione… so who? Could it be Luna?

Ginny laughed hysterically.

There was _no_ way that Harry would ask Mundungus to look for their loony school friend. That would be like Albus wasn't her son at all! Besides, there was no reason for him to know where she was because he doesn't care for her at all!

Ginny laughed again.

If Harry had thought of Ginny as his 'trophy', then Luna… what was Luna for Harry? She was probably nothing to him, since he doesn't even _talk_ of serious and meaningful things to her, Ginny, who was supposed to be his true love, then why should he to Luna?!

That was why she, Ginevra Molly Weasley, chose Luna to accompany Harry to the Ravenclaw Tower, because there was no way that they will end up snogging each other! Luna's too loony to be Harry's source of comfort—it was her role, Ginny's role, and not anyone else's—and Harry simply cannot understand nor feel anything for her!

She laughed again, in mirth and in bitterness.

_Crack_.

Ginny jerked up.

'_He's home_. _What should I do?_' she thought, '_Will I tell him that I followed him? No… it will only make him angry… I can't let him get angry or he'll leave me… okay. Ginevra, take a deep breath._' And she took one, '_Focus… you must please him so he won't leave you. Make snide comments about the Daily Prophet and Rita Skeeter. Make sure that his coffee is well prepared. Make a comment on the latest in Quidditch. Make sure he is comfortable. And most of all…_'

Ginny clutched her wand and pointed at the mess she had made, "_Scourgify!_" everything was almost the same as it was before she made the ruckus. She pointed at herself and with a spell, the blotchy and red look on her face after crying for so long was gone. All thanks to her dear mother. Ginny took a quick look at the mirror and flashed a smile. She closed her eyes. _Focus_. As she opened her eyes, she made the same hard, blazing look as she had done years ago when she approached Harry. She had to use it again to take him back from whomever bitch it was who he was looking for.

She had kept him for twenty years, she's not going to let go of him no matter what happens.

Even if she has to use love potions again, she will, just to keep her hero.

She raised a brow, "Keep that house-elf's mouth shut."

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A/N: Okay, so here ends my sixth chapter. I know it's short, but I had reserved this chapter for this purpose.


	7. The End of Term Feast

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PreChapter!A/N: To those wondering if Albus is _bi_, I think he is. And that's because I do ship Albus Severus/Scorpius and Albus/Rose and Rose/Scorpius and Rose/James. And maybe I'd want to have some James/Albus Severus/Lily incest, it's JK's fault, she made the canon's "best love triangle" names into H/G's kids.

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**Chapter 7**

**The End of Term Feast**

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The rest of the year was kind of… nice.

Albus tried not think of how badly his mother was treating him, as it made him uncomfortable; last Christmas when he did not get anything from his mother—if you could call that smaller-than-a-_Knut-sized chocolate toffee_ as a gift—and yet, James got a Storm Firebolt, although Albus was almost convinced by Rose that it was because James was a Quidditch player. Almost.

He really tried not to think about it up to the point that he had forgotten to send them an owl to greet them a Happy Christmas.

Albus started to shrug things off, keeping in mind that his mother _just _doesn't like the fact that he was in Slytherin. Maybe when he gets back to the Burrow for the vacation he could change her mind a bit…

On Easter, James and Rose both had chocolate eggs as big as Quaffles from both Grandmum Weasley and his mother, and what did he, Albus, got? A snitch sized chocolate egg. Not that he didn't want to complain—since he had no fetish for chocolates—but the fact that the "Mother Hen" attitude (as Scorpius called it) was kind of, not really getting into him as of lately. As a Slytherin, they're the most… well, to use the _horrid _term, _misunderstood_ House, he's kind of gotten used of people not entirely fond of them. People from the other Houses (Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Huffflepuffs altogether) dislike them with passion and seemed to think that anyone from the Slytherins might turn out to be a Dark Wizard, or Witch, in disguise; the Slytherins aren't always the ones who start fights, sometimes, the recklessly "brave" Gryffindors pick up duels and when caught oh-so-innocently say that the Slytherins were the ones who started the fight, and of course most of the professors think that the Gryffindors were _always_ right—afterall, the late headmaster Albus Dumbledore, as Albus Potter had found out, was from Gryffindor, and his own father, who defeated someone who was called Voldemort was also from Gryffindor. Slytherins aren't the only ones who sneak out late at night, there were Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs alike who would go to and fro the kitchens—how they did it, Albus had no idea—and they rarely get reprimanded by their actions, because they can never be as _awful_ and _bad_ as the _evil_ Slytherins.

Slytherins were evil, worst of the worst, crap of the crop, most useless, wimpy gits, and other names. Albus wanted to laugh with mirth for such entitlement, if it wasn't for the fact that it wasn't funny.

"Are you sure you don't want to join the feast?" asked Scorpius, who was already wearing his already-laundered robes. Albus replied with a nod. Scorpius sighed, "You know, you should enjoy life here in Hogwarts. Imagine, you, _wailing_ when we see you next term? Disgusting."

Albus who was pretending to pack his things laughed, "Yeah, right."

"Well… we're just going to meet up with Rose and Diana on the way to the train then?" Scorpius asked one last time. He was already by the door, holding the knob.

"Aa…" Albus forced a smile.

"…"

Albus wasn't sure, but he thought he saw Scorpius cast a worried look at him. The door closed silently, he could hear the other Slytherin's footsteps echoing… at the moment, Albus wanted to be alone. He wanted to remember every good thing that happened to him during his first year in Hogwarts… He plopped on the bed and closed his eyes.

He recalled the first time he was able to fly on a broom, which was rather nasty as his brother had humiliated him for being afraid of heights, the first time he had succeeded transfiguring a mouse into a teapot (although Rose was the first who did it), the first time he cheered for the Slytherin team (although they lost, Scorpius had promised that he will enter the team next term and make sure that they will win), the first point deduction he had after sneaking off from Filch, and a couple more "firsts"…

Albus smiled slightly, remembering that when he goes back home, he should expect the worst, and hope for the best… although, he doesn't know how he can still hope for something that was obviously…

He rolled on the bed, and then accidentally bumped his knees on the trolley. He swore out loud. He must thank whoever thought of trolleys though, at least when he bumped into it, his things did not scatter. It took him a week to clean and tidy up his things, and he's not going to do it all over again.

"What time is it now…" he wondered out loud. He did not expect someone to answer him, neither did he want anyone to talk to him.

It was probably what Scorpius meant about PMS, or whatever it was… although, he did mention it to Rose and Diana. Rose giggled, while Diana gave a full blast laugh of pure mirth.

Albus suddenly looked at his feet for no reason at all, and he remembered what his father told him. A smile spread his young lips as he said what his father told him, "_If you're feeling down, look for the most eccentric person you'll meet. That person probably knows more about you than the person you thought who knew you._" He wiggled his toes a little, "I wonder if those Blubbering Humdingers that Diana told us about really exists…"

And with that he left the room, with no reason at all.

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Albus walked on the corridors looking right and left, wondering if his brother would sneak on him again. Was it going to be a good idea if ever he changed his mind and he'll go and join the feast? His feet shuffled a little, making him stumble a little. He should thank the Heavens that his brother wasn't there…

"Hello, Albus Severus" a singsong voice surprised him, making him jump, "Oh, is that a new kind of greeting? Should I jump too?"

'Diana.' Albus immediately thought; he whirled around. Diana's hair was now a bit longer than before, she had tied them into twin braids, which were rather badly done; she had 4 star-shaped clips on her hair; wildly swinging on her ears were a pair of snake-shaped earrings… and they were _moving_. On her neck was a strange looking necklace, when he focused on it, it was a skull white as marble.

"Er… nice jewelries," he told her. She was twirling her necklace, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just wondering how many _secrets_ this school has. _That's all_." She said nonchalantly, "But what are you doing here? Aren't you going to the feast?"

"Oh, me? I… I was supposed to go there…"

"Okay…" she looked at him in the eyes. Something was really queer with her eyes and still can't find out what it was, "Aren't you going to say anything?"

"How… ah… it's nothing… I just…"

_How was he supposed to tell her about his mother_?

"Is it about your mother?" she asked, tilting her head sideward. Albus wanted to ask her if she could read minds, but decided not to. He nodded. "Is she still displeased that you were in Slytherin?"

"I guess so…" he said. "Well, she did give me chocolates for Easter—"

"But you don't like chocolates." She said in a "manner of fact" way. They were already walking together.

"Yeah… I guess she forgot that." He lied. His mother would _never_ forget that. She may forget Lily's birthday, or James' wish list for Christmas, but she would _never_ ever forget anything that concerns _him_, and he had always wondered _why_.

"I don't think so." She replied smoothly, "I think your mother loves you very much."

"Huh? How can you say that?!" he exclaimed, "She sent me a _Howler_!"

"Oh." She gave him a surprised look, "Oh, yes… of course… Mrs. Potter…"

It was now Albus' turn to give her a surprised look, "Of course it's her. It's not like I have any other 'mother'. Although I do wish I had—"

All of a sudden, without prior notice whatsoever, Diana placed her index finger before Albus' lips. He tried to forget that fact that she was a girl, it may just be because of her odd beliefs, there was nothing to blush about…

"Be careful of what you wish for—" she said in all seriousness that flummoxed Albus, "—the Batterby faeries may hear you and grant your wish!"

"Wha—Batterby… faeries…" Albus smiled. He didn't believe those things, but he sort of had a promise to his self that he won't question her unwavering belief in such things, "Of course, Batterby faeries. Don't worry, I won't forget those."

Diana nodded fervently, "You really should! Though they grant your wish, bad things occur! They're worse than Nargles—"

"Those things in the mistletoe?" he asked, remembering slightly one event where she pointed a mistletoe beneath Professor McGonagall and Hagrid.

"Oh YES!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide with excitement and anticipation, "Evil critters, those Nargles! You do remember—"

"And Professor McGonagall sneezed terribly, after a week she got a cold—"

"And then Hagrid—shouldn't we call him Professor—"

"No, he doesn't like that—"

"Okay… and then Hagrid—"

"Almost got bitten by a huge spider—"

"And Fang almost got hit by a speeding broomstick—"

"That was real?!"

"Oh yes! You can ask Rose, she was the one who told me."

"Right… Diana…" he turned to her, as they were walking side by side. She looked at him once again, emerald catching pale blue, "If… if my parents let me go to Scorpius' place—"

"Will I be there?" she asked him, more of a continuation of his sentence.

He couldn't understand it, but it seemed like he and Diana have this strange bond. It wasn't the first time that she did that, as he was reminded of the conversation they just had earlier.

"Yeah… w-will you?" he furrowed his brows.

A giggle escaped from Diana's lips, "You look funny, Albus Severus." And she added, "Of course I'll be there. I have no reason not to. Well, see you at the feast if you're still going to go." She waved at him before skipping off to the Great Hall (well, at least for him).

It was just then that Albus remembered that he had felt better when he talked to her; at least that was what he thought. He watched her from afar as she skipped happily, her braids swaying wildly as the creepy snake earrings did. He felt his heart lighten… as he remembered what she told him…

'_Of course I'll be there. I have no reason not to…_'

Now all he wants was that his parents let him go to the Malfoys…

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"How is she?" a man with flaming red hair asked, sweating heavily. Before him was a Healer.

"Are you Mister George—"

"Yes, now please…" he pleaded. It was not always that Harry heard him plead, it was more of people would ask for his and Fred's Skiving Snackboxes.

It was a stormy day when Ireland and England had their first Quidditch match for the season, but due a surprising appearance of dementors in the area right in the middle of the game, it was cancelled. People were shouting, running in panic, not that Harry was annoyed by it… it was because Ginny was boasting that Harry could very well get rid of those dementors in an instant.

The last time he tried casting a Patronus, he needed help from Luna…

Everyone was in panic, and Quidditch players were those who were attacked by a swarm of the hideous creatures. Many of the players fell off their brooms, and one of them was Alicia Spinnet. She was about to be married to one of her team mates the week after the game, and George was going to be her best man on the wedding. Her to-be-husband "died" immediately after one of the Dementors Kissed him, there were 4 more victims that they weren't able to rescue.

If it wasn't for Ron's Patronus, Harry couldn't even budge a bit.

And here he was, listening whether his former Gryffindor Quidditch team mate was still—

The Healer shook his head, "I'm sorry. We tried our best—"

"You tried? _You tried?_" George's clenched fists were whitening, "I thought St. Mungo's—"

"—but we cannot save someone who is already dead on arrival."

"What are you talking about?!" George's temper was rising rapidly, "She was still alive! She was still—"

"Calm down, George!" exclaimed Ron, who leapt to his feet. It seemed that he had sensed that his brother might explode any moment.

"—Alicia was still alive! She was breathing—"

Harry somehow understood how George felt… losing someone you cared for—he was immediately reminded of how he was in denial of Sirius's death, he wondered why he didn't mourn him long enough—it was terrible, especially if that person was just there, and the next moment she just disappeared from his life… he felt terrible… he couldn't quite grasp it, but it was terrible…

"—CIA!" howled George, and Harry was snapped from his reverie. George was now being comforted by Ron, and some of Alicia's and her husband-to-be's Quidditch team mates who survived the sudden attack.

The festive wedding that was supposed to happen the next week, Harry thought as he saw people's squirming attempts to refuse the fact that some of them had _left_ them, was going to be a funeral instead.

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PostChapter!A/N: YAY! Someone died! Yay! ahem Okay, I hope you didn't mind killing Alicia Spinnet, because I, ah, love to torture the characters (take Ginny for example, since I _don't know what her personality really is other than being Harry's twu wubbie_, I made her like that, I'm an evil plot bunny maker.). Peace!

I'm really surprised with the Ginny reactions… wow, do I really made her to be evil? If yes, then yay for evil!Ginny! Makes her character 3d for me (since you know, I was sort of waiting for the great revelation about her in TDH, and what did I get? A easy!useless!baby-popping!Ginny, er… sorry for the rant. It's just that I'm really disappointed about it)!


	8. Permissions and Nosebleeds

A/N: Yey! More reviews! I'm sooo happy that you guys had the effort (and willingness!) to push the review button at the bottom of the page! I'm so happy! (sniff) Do I think Ginny is evil? Hmm… I think there is evil in everybody. Yeyz for the Dark Force! (ahem)

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**Chapter 8**

**Permissions and Nosebleeds**

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White steam erupted from the train's vent as it moved, it carried inside it a thousand children back to their families. Slytherins, Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws alike, all of them co-mingling with each other, or at least with those who they are comfortable to be with. One compartment, however, consisted of a rather odd mix of students.

Albus Severus, James Harry and Rose Hermione sat together on one side of the compartment, on the other sat Scorpius Draco and Diana Harriet Artemis on the other. It was quite a tense atmosphere; Scorpius and James glared at each other since they got into the compartment. Albus wondered himself of why his brother suddenly decided to accompany him back—he's not thinking that Albus won't go home, right?

In the midst of apprehension of the compartment, Diana took out the latest edition of The Quibbler. With a gleeful look on her face, she exclaimed, "Ooh! Another Snorkack sighting!"

Albus smiled as she flipped the pages of the tabloid, he looked to his left where Rose was sitting. She rolled her eyes, but she did not say anything; like Albus, she too had somehow learned that she shouldn't _always _question Diana's unwavering _faith_ on the existence of her mythical creatures. James, however, being the Gryffindor that he is…

"A Snor-what?" he raised a brow, "Hey, that's—" Rose and Albus whipped their heads to James, "—the rubbish rag, The Quibbler?!" he pointed at the tabloid that Diana held. Scorpius gave James a scathing look.

"Excuse me?" she asked coldly, "My grandfather was the editor—"

"AHA! The Loony Lovegoods!" James exclaimed; he turned to Albus, "Al, you're associating yourself with a _loony_?!"

"She's _not loony_." Scorpius gritted his teeth. A smirk was placed on James' lips after Scorpius said such.

"Is she your _girlfriend_?! And I thought Malfoys were all about—"

"What are you doing, James Harry Potter?" a beautiful voice like an angel's echoed in the compartment. An extremely beautiful girl with platinum blonde hair and equally bright beautiful blue eyes caught every boy's voices in their respective throats.

"Vi-Victoire!" James spluttered her name.

The beautiful girl with a shiny Hufflepuff prefect's badge on her chest swept inside the compartment, her long sheet of shiny hair swaying behind her. The boys gawked at her in bedazzlement. She turned to James.

"What is the meaning of this? Bullying?" she asked, her seemingly delicate voice intertwined with annoyance.

"N-no… it's not like that, it's just—" he tried to explain, but immediately shut his mouth when he saw Victoire. He looked like he was going to faint.

"Hello, are you by any chance related to the Lovegoods?" asked Victoire, pertaining to Diana, "My parents said they had a nice daughter, are you Luna Lovegood?"

"Oh hello too. Luna Lovegood is my mother, I'm Diana Lovegood." Replied Diana wistfully, she then widened her already wide pale eyes, "And you have veela blood."

Victoire looked mildly surprised, "Why… yes. I'm Victoire Delacour-Weasley, nice meeting you, Diana—did James bother you?" When she got no response from the girl who was now busy reading The Quibbler, Victoire then turned to Scorpius, "And you must be a—"

"Malfoy, yes, if that's what you're going to say." Scorpius immediately said, he looked a little flustered. "Scorpius Malfoy."

Victoire nodded at him. Albus looked at her and then she looked at him, "Oh, how are you, little Al?"

"I'm no longer—"

"You'll always be little Al to me." She swooped down and kissed Albus' cheek. The boy felt like he could very well die at the moment; "Rose, will look after James? You know how much brat he is."

"I'm not a—" James was stopped dead when Victoire swooped down and kissed him on the left cheek. He fainted.

"Wow. You've got a magic kiss." Muttered Scorpius, "You knocked him out."

"Do you like me to do that to you too?" Victoire winked at him, although Albus wasn't sure if she was serious or not. Scorpius, despite his already seemingly burning face, shook his head vigorously. "Well, just wake him up when we arrived at Platform 9 ¾, or Aunt Ginny will be mad again." Her eyes flashed a little, and then she sighed. She left the compartment, waving at the remaining conscious students.

"Rose," said Scorpius, looking at the bushy haired Weasley, "I am thankful that your parents got married."

Rose looked wildly at him, at loss of whatever he meant, she turned to Albus, but he only scratched the back of his head. If Rose, one of the extremely few Weasleys to have a brain—scratch that, Slytherin seemed to be very much of an influence on Albus—Aunt Hermione's child who inherited her mother's brain capabilities didn't understand what Scorpius had just said, there was no way that Albus would decrypt whatever it was.

"We should also be thankful that William married Fleur." Piped Diana, who was now reading The Quibbler upside down, Rose and Albus exchanged looks of surprise. "Hn?"

"Yeah." Scorpius nodded. Albus saw him looking beyond the window of the compartment, he wondered whether Scorpius was looking at a place that Albus couldn't reach, no matter how sappy it may have sounded. Scorpius may have noticed it though, because he suddenly looked at Albus and said, "Uh… You have a cool cousin, that Victoire, I like her."

Albus wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he thought he heard Rose grunt.

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Two hours has passed, they already took off their robes and prepared to leave the compartment. The platform was just some couple of meters away: James had woken up already—although he was still dazed (and still had hung-over with Victoire's kiss on the cheek)—he immediately left the compartment after staring at the younger years.

Why so, Albus Severus had no idea.

Students and parents flooded the area: many first years, despite the fact that they had already spent their Christmas and Easter at their own homes, were crying their eyes out, Albus wanted to puke. At least he knew he won't do such overly dramatic scenes.

"I can see them! I can see them!" Rose shrieked enthusiastically, pointing to the group of people with flaming red hair, a woman with bushy brown ones and a man with the messy mop of hair that was in resemblance with Albus' own locks. Scorpius snorted, "Hn, Slytherins are insensitive, huh."

"Oh…" Rose exclaimed, looking at Albus.

"It's OK." Said Albus, in an "I-don't-care" attitude.

"Of course it's not OK." Stated Diana, "They're your family." She turned to Scorpius, "What did Mister Malfoy say—"

"Call him Uncle, Diana. He'll _Crucio_ me to infinity—"

"But that's wrong! People just can't use Unforgivables like—"

"Figuratively speaking, Your All Knowing Highness." Snarled Scorpius, gaining a glare from the bushy haired Weasley. He turned to Diana, "Besides, Mum will be there."

Diana's eyes popped excitedly, "Ooh! Lady Stellar! She finally came back!" Albus could see Diana's face light up with life, he wondered how Scorpius, who was such a sarcastic and sardonic person could make her smile like that.

"Yeah. You didn't catch her though, you were late." He said.

"Hn… I had to attend to Grandfather's funeral, you see." She said in a manner of factly tone.

"Oh… we didn't know that…" replied Scorpius, frowning. Diana shook her head and with a smile, replied, "It's fine. Mum has always told me that he'll be happier with my Grandmother wherever they are now."

Albus saw Scorpius smile at her. Rose coughed, "Ahem, the train already stopped. You two can stop—"

"You two will come to our place this vacation, will you?" Scorpius cut her off. Rose looked surprised.

"R-really?!" she stuttered. Scorpius nodded seriously. "That's really great!" she clapped her hands joyfully.

"I thought you wouldn't want to?" asked Albus.

"Oh, no! No! That's not true! That's really great!" she squealed. "Come on! I can't wait to tell Mum and Dad!"

"She seems really happy." Said Diana, tilting her head on one side and rolling The Quibbler then placed it inside the sleeves of her shirt afterwards. Albus and Scorpius nodded in agreement, not only with what Diana said, but in agreement that they won't ask why she put the newspaper inside her shirt.

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The foursome (ahem) jumped out of the train happily, recounting their previous encounters at Hogwarts. A loud shriek of happiness escaped from Rose lips as they approached the shed.

"Mum! Dad!" she cried out flailing her hands in the air. Albus glanced at Scorpius. He was pursing his lips, and had placed a hand on his mouth, as if trying not to laugh.

"I'll be back." He told Scorpius and Diana, pointing to his own family who were just beside the Weasleys. The other two nodded; Albus saw Scorpius hold Diana's hand and take her. Albus frowned as he walked to the Potters. Rose was already with her family, her father's hand holding hers.

"—and we won the Quidditch Cup!" he heard James say. Albus cleared his throat.

"Uh… hi Dad, hi Mum…" he managed to mutter. He looked up to them.

"How's your first year, Al?" asked his father, a wide smile on his face. His mother on the other hand remained silent and stone faced, she was holding Lily's hand. James looked at him smirking.

"It was great, Dad. I didn't know that Slytherins have this cool Common room." He smiled back.

"You're in _Slytherin_?!" the small redheaded girl piped up, "I thought you didn't like to be in Slytherin?!"

"I was very surprised too." Said Ginny coolly, and then hastily added with a smile, "But if you really want to, there's nothing we can do."

"Well, I'm glad to have you back, Al!" said Harry, as he embraced Albus and lifted him into the air. Albus felt a great rush of affection for his father, and he found himself wondering why his mother suddenly smiled at him. Was it because his father was there?

"Daaaddd… I'm getting sick…" moaned Al as his father spun around, making him dizzy.

"Oh, sorry. I guess I over did it this time." Harry said as he lowered Albus. Rose's family was busy fussing over how great Rose was in academics. It was then that Albus saw Scorpius with his family.

With a wave, Albus shouted, "Scorpius!"

Scorpius raised a hand, Diana was no longer by his side. Albus wanted to frown because he wanted his dad to meet her. Accompanying Scorpius was a young-looking woman with sleek obsidian colored hair that fell to her shoulders; a single barrette on the back seemed to clasp her hair in place. She was wearing Muggle clothes with flair (a long white dress with frills, a large brown coat and doll shoes), and she didn't seem to mind people staring at her and her "odd" taste in clothes. They were closely followed by a man who bore a striking resemblance to Scorpius, or the other way around. Despite his receding hair, he still looked handsome—at least for Albus—and his stature was screaming '_pureblood_' minus the psychopathic tendency that was always highlighted by his Grandmum Weasley whenever they were caught doing things she didn't like. He was wearing a black wizard's robe, and he was carrying a small frail looking girl on his arms.

The man, as Albus assumed as Scorpius' father, nodded at his family and the Weasleys. Scorpius' mother held out her hand, as if meant to be shaken by the others.

"Stellar Morgana," she said, while shaking Harry's hand, "You must be Harry Potter?"

Ginny sent a glare at the woman, however Harry nodded in agreement, "Yes. Nice to meet you, we didn't get to your wedding—"

"Oh, no. We're not married." She laughed, "So there's no wedding." Draco looked away. Ginny and Hermione raised brows at her comment, Harry and Ron stared at her. Draco put down the little girl, Albus found it surprising that she didn't fall down.

"Hello!" the little girl said. She too was blonde and her deep blue eyes was warm and twinkling, just like her mother's. Lily waved at the little girl, "Hello to you too."

Scorpius nodded at Albus. Rose was giggling.

Albus cleared his throat, getting his father's attention, who was rather amused with the offhand comments by his once-enemy's wife. Harry turned to Albus.

"What is it?"

"Uh…" Albus was thinking of a good way to say it, since he was rather afraid that his mother won't let him go if he was to say something that she won't like. "Well, Dad… you see… uh… I'm not…"

Scorpius smacked his face with the palm of his left hand. (Scorpius is a left-handed person, by the way) Rose sighed in defeat. The omens weren't good after all.

He, however, was saved by Rose's quick thinking.

"Uncle Harry," she piped as she walked towards the Potters, slipping away from her father's touch, "—we were thinking of doing research at the Malfoys!" Scorpius gave her a raised brow. She straightened her back and continued, "Scorpius _told_ us that his mother was a naturalist, so that means she had found extremely rare stuff that we may use for our studies." She said in a know-it-all manner. Scorpius sniggered.

Stellar clapped her hands, "Oh did you, Scorpie?"

"Oh please, don't call me that. I'm eleven years old. Not three." Scorpius stared indifferently at his mother.

"Scorpie don't like Lyrie's nickname for Scorpie?" the small girl asked, grabbing Scorpius' clothes. She looked rather upset. Scorpie looked thunderstruck. Albus couldn't help but feel bad for his friend: if he thought Al was bad, Scorpie was worse.

"Lyra." A drawling voice said, it was Scorpius' father. "Come now." He turned to his wife. "It's your fault why he's called Scorpie by Lyra."

Stellar raised a brow, "Excuse me. I wasn't the one who insisted that he should be named after a constellation. Beh." She stuck a tongue at him, a fresh vein popped at Draco's forehead. She turned at Rose, "Did Scorpius really say that?"

"That you were traveling?" asked Rose, Stellar nodded. Rose pursed her lips, as if thinking of the answer. "Not really. He said that to Albus, then Albus told us about it."

Stellar looked a little disappointed, "Oh I see…" but she quickly regained her energetic self, "But that's great! Of course I'll let you kids see the enormous collection of Auntie Stellar! And oh, we also have this replica of Ravenclaw's diadem, right, Draco?"

"I already saw the diadem. I assure you, the only resemblance it has would be the words inscribed on it." She pouted, Draco added, "And you are incredibly childish." Stellar whipped her head the other way, Draco smirked as she had just proved his claim that she was childish.

Albus tore away from the Malfoy's antics and looked up at his father, "Uhm… Dad?"

Harry looked down at his child. He seemed to be in deep thought. Albus's hopes of being with Scorpius, Rose and Diana for summer vacation, even for a short while, were slowly diminishing every second that passed.

With a smile, Harry said, "Of course I'll let you."

"Really?! Wow, Dad! You're the best!" he embraced his father and immediately ran to Scorpius who was alone.

Albus and Scorpius exchanged smirks, Rose then came, her face lit with life.

"They let me go! They let me go!" she said, jumping up and down. She turned to Scorpius, "I want to see your mother's discoveries, and the—" she was talking dangerously fast paced that the two stared at her, as they had not understood a thing she said.

"I thought we'd go to my place to play Quidditch?" Scorpius scowled.

"I know! But since we're staying there the whole summer—"

"Whole summer?!" exclaimed Albus, "B-but…"

"Don't worry, our parents already talked about it!" Rose jumped again excitedly, "We're really staying at the Malfoys' for the whole summer! Isn't that great!"

Scorpius stared at her, "I thought you didn't like going to my place?"

"I changed my mind." She grinned, "Besides, I think your mother is cool!"

"You think so?" asked Scorpius.

"Of course!" Rose exclaimed.

"Scorpius?" asked Albus. Scorpius replied with a grunt. "Where's Diana?"

"She had to leave earlier." Scorpius said in a flat tone. Rose furrowed her brows, "Why did she had to? And—oh, we didn't get to meet her parents!"

"Oh you'll meet her." said Scorpius, in the same monotonous way as he previously did. Albus and Rose looked at each other, with a smirk he added, "You definitely will."

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"WOW!" the cousins exclaimed as they set foot beyond the black gates of the manor. The manor was bigger than Albus' family house, and definitely bigger than The Burrow, where Rose's family lived.

"Watch out for your jaws, you might forget to reattach them." Scorpius smirked. Rose snarled at him, "Hey watch that snarl, if you continue that, I'll ask Professor Slughorn to re-Sort you to Slytherin, _Rosie_." Scorpius mocked. Rose stuck out her tongue. They began marching to the manor.

They were brought by their parents at the gates of Wiltshire Manor, Uncle Ronald was really uncomfortable in bringing his _Rosie_ at the Malfoys. He kept on telling her that she should be careful of what they give her, or what they eat—as they would be staying there all summer, how Scorpius' family was able to convince their families, Albus had no idea—he also told them to be extra suspicious of the father Malfoy. Typical Uncle Ronald. Rose kept on rolling her eyes, something they had learned from Scorpius when they don't like what someone was telling them. Rose's mother was quite excited for her own daughter and told her to _really_ study things that were discovered by Scorpius' mother, or what she wanted them to call her: Auntie Stellar; it really seemed like Rose definitely got her enthusiasm of new knowledge from her mother. Hugo, being the whiny and spoiled child that he is, stomped and cried, but he wasn't allowed to go with his sister to Wiltshire Manor.

Albus' father was a bit worried for him, although he didn't know why—he hoped that it wasn't because he would be going to another Slytherin's house—but he was at least a little better than Uncle Ronald who was really into suspecting the Malfoys. Albus had the funny feeling that if they get scratched, his Uncle Ronald will say that it was attempted murder. James on the other hand, wasn't going to stay at their house for the time being, he was going to go to Professor Longbottom's—Uncle Neville's—house so that he could focus on studying, very much to Albus' surprise.

His mother didn't talk to Albus when they dropped them to Wiltshire Manor, unlike his sister Lily, who was crying when she heard that he'll leave for the summer; Albus wasn't sure of his "observations", but his mother kept on avoiding him and when his father was there, she would shower him with praises and good things. Albus wouldn't like to think of it, but it was very suspicious. His father on the other hand seemed to be rather spacey; he wasn't home all the time, and even when he was at home, he would either tell stories to them (Albus and his siblings), or eat, or ask their house elf, Kreacher who looked a little on the slump lately, or he'd write things then crumple them after.

Albus wasn't sure again, but was it just him or did his parents just not talk about _anything_ at all. One thing was sure, James noticed it, but would rather not tell and Lily was completely oblivious of it since she was being showered by girly things and girly stories by their mother on how to have a boyfriend who was famous…

**WHACK.**

"Ugh."

Albus had just tripped face first on the ground; the path to the manor was full of gravel and stones.

"Blood…" he heard Rose gasp, "Scorpius, blood…"

"What are you doing just standing there?" an angry voice from Scorpius was heard. Albus heard someone running on the gravel and someone was helping him stand.

"Wimp." Said Scorpius.

"Shut up." Retorted Albus, "I was thinking."

"It's not an excuse to suddenly slip, look at yourself, you're a bloody mess." He felt himself be supported by Scorpius. "You really should try to train yourself to stand on your own. We won't always be here to help you. A Slytherin must be cunning in order to survive—"

"This isn't a war, Scorpius." Albus was finally getting his sight back to normal. He could now see Scorpius' worried face…

"I know, but… never mind. I can assist you to walk… but can—"

"I think I can." Albus cut him off. They walked one step at a time, with Albus tripping almost every seven steps.

"I can just imagine your parents' faces… injury at your first five minutes here… your Uncle Ronald will throw us to Azkaban for attempting to murder you—"

"He's not that bad… he's just a little—"

"Prejudiced?" Scorpius raised a brow, "Not that it surprises me. Really."

"I noticed." They were already half way to the manor.

The door opened and three females appeared. One was Rose, the other was Diana, and the last was Scorpius' mother, Stellar. Scorpius' mother rushed to the scene.

"In Hogwarts?" asked Scorpius in a low tone, so as his mother won't hear.

"Yeah…"

"Goodness, what happened to you? _Episkey_." Stellar swished her wand (which came from her sleeve), and Albus' broken nose—he didn't know it broke, but he knew it bled—was fixed. "You're a bloody mess—"

"Scorpius told me so."

"—that's…" she stopped a little and glanced longingly at her son. With a sigh, she pointed at his shirt, "Scourgify—" a small amount of the blood stain was cleaned, "—ah, I knew I wasn't made for these home-making spells… Rose, Diana, dearies, please help me with this child—"

Inside the Wiltshire Manor was beautiful, it was glistening—however, Albus hadn't got the luxury of time since he was immediately taken to the nearest unoccupied room in the house, as he had heard. Two (or was it three) house-elves popped and sort of Apparated him in a room, on a soft and comfy bed. And an aroma… that was definitely… sleepy…

"—not the potions!" exclaimed a smooth voice owned by a man. Albus bolted upright. "Oh, it's _you_." Said the tall blonde man, who Albus recognized as Draco Malfoy, Scorpius' father; he turned back to the stacked books at the shelf.

Albus gave him a look of confusion. Why was Scorpius' father… so cold?

The door opened, and inside went was Scorpius' mother, Stellar, since Albus wasn't sure if he was going call her Mrs. Malfoy. She walked—or did she glide?—towards Albus and sat on the bed.

"How are you?" she asked, in some sort of mother-like concern. She looked very concerned.

"Uh… I-I'm fine…" he stammered, "I… I just tripped…"

'_She's nice…_'

Stellar put her hand on the side of her cheek and tilted her head, "Oh my! You must be a very wimpy kid to get damaged like that easily!"

'_Okay_', Albus said in his mind, '_I take it back. She's not nice._'

Albus heard someone grunt. It wasn't him, nor was it Scorpius' mother, so it had to be…

"You surely have your way with the tongue, Stellar." Said Draco, who seemed to be flipping through the pages of some old books. Albus watched the two adults exchange words.

"Of course, originality is always the better choice." She gave off a smug smile. Draco raised a brow; he closed a book shut and dust exploded from it.

"Like you are." He replied smoothly, he walked to the door, "I'll be brewing the potion tonight, please take her to the tower, as she needs it badly." Albus and Scorpius' father caught each other's eyes, and Albus was a bit taken a back, Draco Malfoy seemed to dislike him. And he left the room, with the door opened.

Albus turned his gaze at the woman sitting on the bed he occupied; she seemed to be lost in thought. He thought he saw her lips quiver… and then she clapped her hands and turned to him.

"They're waiting for you outside, on the garden. You can come outside if you're feeling fine already!" she said joyfully. She stood up and flounced towards the door, and then halted. She turned to Albus once more, "Oh, just in case you get lost, the main door is 5 meters away from the main staircase, and your room—this room, I mean—would be exactly 15 feet away from the main staircase… and oh, the garden would be six feet from the main door." She then exited the room.

'_She's…_'

Stellar popped her head inside, almost causing Albus to shout. With a smile, she said, "And please don't go to the seventh door from the seventh feet of the seventh stairway!" and then she really left. Or at least Albus hoped.

'… _weird._'

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A/N: This was supposed to be entitled with "**At The Manor**", but since I thought this chapter was already too long (ten pages, Verdana 10 in Microsoft Word!), I decided to cut on this part, and it wouldn't fit the chapter.

And yes, to those who were wondering what was Diana's connection to Luna was, Diana Harriet Artemis Lovegood is Luna Selene Lovegood's daughter in my fanfiction, and yes, the Selene part is also made up because I want Luna to have Selene as her middle name. And Stellar is NOT Luna. Although she's sort of related to Luna (and Draco too! I'll give a hinty, I love any--ANY--ships except for Harry/Ginny), and you'll know why next chapter!

You know, I feel bad for H/G's children… Imagine, they were named after the most central love triangle in HP (and probably the reason why there's HP).

POLL 1: Who do you want to end up with whom, aside from H/L?

POLL 2: How do you want H/G to crash and burn in this fic? (since this is an anti-HPGW fic)

POLL 3: Who do you want to die next?

POLL 4: How do you want Tom Marvolo Riddle a.k.a. The Dark Lord a.k.a. Lord Voldemort back in this fanfiction?


	9. At The Manor

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A/N: Hello again! YEY! More reviews! Thank you for so ever being nice to click that Go button under the page! Thank you for the effort and willingness to review! And thank you for answering the poll!

The last part of the chapter is a little… sappy, so if you don't want sappy stuff, you could just skip it. It's the gift for the sappy H/L lovers. Teehee! (and if you want to read Ginny suffer...)

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**Chapter 9**

**At The Manor**

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Albus stared at the window at the second floor of Wiltshire Manor. Was it just him, or was there _someone staring down at him_? He squint his eyes, as if focusing through the rimmed lenses of his glasses; no one was there. Albus shrugged; it might just be a trick played on his mind. It was kind of hot at the moment, especially with a red sun… red sun?!

**BAM!**

Something hit Albus on the face; the impact of the hit wasn't that much, but it did send him a little off balance, and darkness prevailed…

"I can't _see_!" he exclaimed, a tone of panic in his voice, "I can't SEE! I CAN'T SEE!"

"_Not again!_" Scorpius' unmistakable voice boomed.

Albus had no idea what was happening to his surrounding, moreover on how he was going to use the broom—he was almost fifty feet from the ground! His hands were starting to shake, and panic was starting to flood him twice as fast.

"Scorpius?" asked Albus, his voice shaking, "Diana? Rose?"

A soothing and seemingly light voice calmed his stirring heart, "_Don't worry… we're here…_"

He felt a soft hand intertwining with his own, right after those words; he then felt more hands touching him everywhere, as if they were leading him somewhere. Air played with his cheeks, slowly cooling it. His feet finally touched the ground; he immediately jumped from the Numbus Two Thousand and One, slumped on the hard ground. He felt something _feathery_ drape on his shoulders. He jumped.

"_Don't worry, it's only a towel._" A rather familiar voice said. Albus dug on his mind where and from whom he heard that voice.

"_Are you alright?_" Scorpius' voice whispered. Albus nodded his head, at least he thought so. Something in his head clicked, and then he remembered whose voice it was. It was from Scorpius's mother, Stellar.

"_Why do you end up always injured?_" a tired and annoyed voice said, it was probably from Rose.

"I dunno." Said Albus, his eyes still not normal, "Maybe I've got some inherited bad luck—"

"_Bad luck does not exist._" It was almost the same as the mysterious voice he had heard earlier, except for the fact that Albus immediately recognized this voice as Diana's. "_Bad is perverted—_" Perverted?! "_—it is the distortion of good._" Ahh… "_Therefore, bad does not exist without the good._"

"_Very well said!_" exclaimed Stellar, "_As expected from a Ravenclaw, I suppose?_" Albus thought he heard a giggle.

"_You'll be fine. It's just a minor concussion._" The gentle voice he previously heard when he was on broom said. He felt his heart skip a beat when he heard it, and he couldn't understand why. For a fleeting moment, he thought he felt a warm hand touch his own faintly. And then it was gone. Albus, with his free hand, held the hand that was touched. It was warm… very warm…

"_Try to open your eyes now._"

"Isn't it open already?" asked Albus. Someone hit him on the back of his head, he heard Rose say, "_Then she wouldn't have told you to open it!_"

"Well, you can't see anything if you're in the dark, no matter how you open your eyes wide!" snapped Albus.

"_Quit arguing you cousins!_" he heard Scropius say, and Albus could swear to the Heavens that he snarled.

Another hand, Albus felt a shiver run down his spine (probably because of the surprise), held his free hand, and he was sure it was Diana's voice he heard, "_Open your eyes, Albus._" Albus trusted her, and he did.

Light flooded his eyes, so he squinted at first; when his eyes had already adjusted with the sight, he saw Diana, her pale eyes wide as ever stare at him. He almost jumped; it wasn't because he saw her, but rather, because she was _so_ close to his face. Too close for comfort. It was odd, because when Scorpius was _that_ close, he was embarrassed because, well, Scorpius was a guy after all, but now he couldn't understand why he was jumpy.

"Is Mister Albbie Sevvie okay now?" a small voice squeaked. Albus whipped his head to see who it was. He had seen her before.

"Oh, you're Scorpius' sister, right?" asked Albus, suddenly remembering her. The little girl nodded vigorously, she then ran to her mother's side and grabbed a fit of her clothes. Albus titled his head sideways, not understanding the odd reaction of the girl.

Albus swiveled his head to look at his friends' faces: Diana titled her head sideward, Rose raised a brow, and to his horror, Scorpius was smirking.

"W-Why are you smirking?!" he pointed a finger at his blonde friend. Scorpius only widened his smirk, as if he knew something that Albus didn't.

"Ooh, nothing." Scorpius simpered. Albus was appalled. There was something fishy… Albus watched Scorpius as he strutted back to the manor as a fresh red vein popped on his forehead. He turned to Rose, who shrugged. And then to Diana, who merely stared at him.

Why did he suddenly had the idea that everyone was playing on him? Albus thought this as Scorpius' sister waddled her way to the manor, just like everyone else.

"Now they left you here!" exclaimed Stellar, who was the only person aside from Albus who was left behind. She held out a hand for Albus to grab; albeit reluctantly, the boy held on to the woman.

Albus dusted off his pants and took the broom that he borrowed; Stellar had already walked some paces, so Albus had to jog to catch up to her. She was really graceful when she was walking, and the air seemed to glide around her body.

"Uh… Mrs. Malfoy—"

"Call me Auntie Stellar." A smile graced her lips, "What is it, Albus?"

"Well… I was wondering…" should he ask her about the person he had seen in one of the rooms, or should he ask her about Scorpius…

"Hm. I'd prefer to answer the first one." She suddenly said, as if reading Albus' mind. Flabbergasted, Albus seemed to have forgotten to reattach his detached jaw to his skull.

"H-how…"

"Hn?" she looked at him. And then she laughed, "Silly boy. Since you have a question, there's a _main question_, or there must at least be a starting question." Albus was perplexed, why, why, why was she talking like that?!

"Well…" he stammered as he recovered from the shock, they were now walking together back to the manor, he fiddled with his fingers, "I was wondering… who… is there anyone else… in the manor aside from… your family?"

Stellar stopped at her tracks, "Why'd you ask?"

"I—" he panicked. What if there was some kind of occult in this place?!

Stellar cupped his face and lifted it, he could see her blue orbs staring at him. He gulped, "You seem to be tense. I was just asking why you asked." She let go of his chin and stuck her tongue out. Albus was bowled over by Stellar, he didn't know what to say. It was either she was nice, creepy, or incredibly insane: at the moment, she was at the "incredibly insane" category.

"So, why did you ask?" she asked him again, now rather more of a passing than something serious.

Albus relaxed his shoulders, "I… I saw someone staring… from the second floor…" should he tell her…

"Hm… and?"

"Well… there was someone else up there with me… when I lost my sight… and there was a very… a very warm hand that held mine…" he cradled the touched hand before his chest.

"Pfft!" he immediately looked up. A raging blush covered his face as the older woman laughed her heart out; Albus could swear that if they were inside the manor, she would be rolling on the floor, laughing her ass off.

"W-why are you laughing?!" he pointed an accusing finger at Scorpius' mother, who didn't seem to be fazed by his anger.

"Ha ha… sorry!" she raised her hand on the air, not looking at him. "You… you… are you some kind of… gay or something?!" She seemed like she was trying to keep herself from laughing, albeit very badly. Albus felt the words pierce and chop his heart.

"No! And I was being serious!" he retorted defensively. Stellar grinned at him, "Oh I'm sorry… it was just… you look really feminine earlier! With all that hand touching thing! It was hilarious!"

Albus wasn't sure if he wanted to curse her for being tactless, or should he be happy that she was incredibly open.

"If Mrs. Stellar doesn't want to answer, it's fine." Albus suddenly blurt out, a fresh vein popping from his young forehead. Just as he stomped off, Stellar replied.

"Luna Lovegood."

Albus stopped and looked back at the older woman; she had her arms crossed, Albus gave her a bewildering look, seeing that he wasn't Luna Lovegood, "What?"

"Luna Lovegood." Stellar repeated, "You were asking who was the person at the second floor of the manor, right?"

"Oh… I see…" he said, "She's Diana's mother?"

"Obviously. But she doesn't feel well these days, so she had to stay inside." She said, looking at the manor. She started walking again, and was already past Albus.

"Why don't we see her then?" he asked, as he started walking too. "We've been in the manor for a week already, why haven't we seen her?"

"Such an inquiring child, you should be in Ravenclaw, you know." She replied, more of an offhand comment, "You've been busy playing and chatting and eating and sleeping that you barely notice anything aside from things you understand and things you want to understand. Nothing new."

"…"

"She's a fine lady, Miss Luna Lovegood." She clapped her hands, "A fine naturalist! She's my inspiration and my _love_!"

"EH?!" Albus' jaws dropped again.

"Oh, yeah, you don't speak of things like that…" she just stared at him and continued on walking, "… what I meant was that… hmmm… how do I say that without it being looked like we're lovers—" Albus now understood why Scorpius was a little distant from his mother. She was downright crazy. "—hmm… she's like an older sister, that's it!" she exclaimed.

"Older sister?"

"Yeah!" she said, "You see, Miss Luna is a fellow Ravenclaw of mine, although she's like six years older than I am. When I was starting my job as a naturalist, she was the one who helped me. It was really fun working with her!" Stellar smiled, she looked very happy.

"…"

"Well, I've already answered your first question, anything else?" she asked, they were finally approaching the manor. Scorpius was waiting there.

Somehow, Albus was torn whether he was going to ask about Scorpius or not. It was going to be very insensitive of him to suddenly ask her of how was her relationship with Scorpius or anything related to both Scorpius and his mother.

"Nope. There's nothing else I'd like to ask, Auntie Stellar." He replied with a small smile, feeling the weight in his stomach. Stellar brightened.

"SO ADORABLE!" she exclaimed as she basically threw herself on the boy and gave him a big wet kiss on the cheek. Scorpius was practically speechless.

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"So you know Ms. Lovegood?" asked Albus. He was in Scorpius' room. It was spacey, and had lots of stuff. Green and black wallpapers (as Albus thought they were) covered the walls, a big grand window showed a very nice view of what was beyond the graveled Wiltshire Manor, there was a small terrace outside. White sheets of lace curtains billowed as the feeble wind entered the room, passing through a racing broom, a pile of robes, some books and what seemed to be lots of empty vials. Potion was Scorpius' favorite subject, despite Professor Slughorn not inviting him as part of the Slug Club.

"Hn?" Scorpius grunted, "Ms. Lovegood…? You mean Aunt Luna? Of course I know her." he said, "She lived here since… hmm… can't remember, but it's been a long time. Why'd you ask?"

"Nothing."

"Idiot. You don't ask things randomly—"

"Diana does."

"You're_ not_ Diana. You're Albus Severus '_I-have-a-bad-name-disease_' Potter, let me remind you of that one teeny weensy difference." Scorpius replied, he was now kicking some of his stuff out of the way as he brought some _books_ with him, "Get out of the way, Albus, you'll be hit."

Scorpius landed the books right before where Albus was sitting on, "You know what these are, right?" asked Scorpius as he began to open the books.

Moving pictures were waving and laughing in the frames, numerable people that Albus had seen before and otherwise seemed to be happy in their smiles.

"A picture book?" said Albus, more of waiting for confirmation rather than asking a question. Scorpius nodded as he flipped some pages, he seemed to be looking for something.

"You want to know how Aunt Luna looked like before?" asked Scorpius. Albus looked up at him, they were only some inches apart.

"Doesn't Diana look like her?" asked Albus.

"Well," Scorpius shifted some more pages, "—they do resemble each other, but they do have differences… ah! Found it!" Scorpius practically shoved the book on Albus' face, making him stumble. Albus cursed at Scorpius and his gaze went to the single woman on the page.

Scorpius was right, Diana did resemble her, but this woman… Ms. Lovegood had those wide pale eyes that Diana had, but hers were more mystifying, more reflective, and her smile… was that of what his father called '_Mona Lisa smile_'. A smile so mysterious in a picture that he couldn't quite decipher what she was thinking. Wild radishes dangled from her ears, and a single sunflower accessorized her long straggly dirty-blonde hair which was tied in a rather messy braid. Her cheeks were a little different too…

Albus traced the woman's features, he felt like he was seeing someone he knew before, his heart was beating fast as he surveyed her form. It was like meeting a person he cared for very much once again after such a long time… Albus suddenly found his self memorizing every aspect of the picture: how she stood, how her hands seemed to be graciously limp, how her eyes wandered, how the radishes swung wildly, and how gentle and kind her visage was…

He felt glad and gracious that Scorpius had let him see the picture. Somehow, deep in Albus' being, it was like… he was reunited with someone he cared so much, but at the same time, it was something he wasn't sure about…

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Harry Potter cannot sleep. His mind wandered to James, the first born child of Ginny Weasley and his son, Albus Severus. Summer wasn't going to be the same as it was twenty years ago, or fifteen years ago, or ten years ago… it seemed ages, but the kids were absent for only three days. Was this how parents felt when they don't exactly know where their children were during vacations? Sure he felt rather, well, safe when they were at Hogwarts: with Professor McGonagall as the head mistress, he couldn't exactly see a reason why he shouldn't.

Not that he trusted Neville: he was worried of what James would do to Neville's greenhouse and make Dungbombs explode there as his thought of joke. He would rather not imagine Neville's grandmother, Augusta, not letting James slip off from his jokes, like what he, Harry, has been doing.

Speaking of which… they had been receiving complaints from Hogwarts caretaker, Filch, of his son's mischief and number of offenses made…

But wasn't he doing it because he didn't want them to experience anything that was equivalent to his horrible childhood at the Dursleys: he doesn't want to keep James from doing what he wanted, it would be deprivation; he doesn't want to keep Albus from going to his friend's house, it would be deprivation too; he doesn't want to keep Ginny from telling those ridiculous stories of princes and princesses and their happily ever after, their "all is well", their ridiculous unrealistic endings, to Lily because it would ruin her childhood to know about real life—wait, wasn't that exactly how Professor Dumbledore treated him? Harry couldn't help but smile and feel disgusted at the same time. Just the same as Dumbledore.

Harry shook his self from the thought, and tried to focus on other things… for the past few years of him living as the head of the Potter family, he could not help to think of the "what ifs"… what if he did not marry Ginny immediately? What if he married another person? What if he wasn't the father of James, or Albus, or Lily—what was he thinking?! Wasn't the records enough—but it could be manipulated!

Harry smacked his face with the palm of his right hand; why was he thinking of infidelities and such?! Couldn't he trust Ginny for _once_?

He rolled sideways and stared at the family picture on the desk beside his bed; he gazed heavily at the picture of his family: it was taken right before Albus went to Hogwarts for his first term. There Harry was standing on the back, holding his son's hand with his; Ginny sat on the chair, with Lily on her lap and James was also standing beside her.

How seemingly happy they were, and how fake the smiles he and Ginny had. He and Ginny hadn't been sleeping in the same room for five years already. They couldn't agree on anything, except probably when it came to their kids, or worse, sex. In those five years, he found his self wondering how things became like this, in those five years, his mind wandered helplessly, wondering why did he marry Ginny, when the woman he really loved, truly and wholly—Hermione and Ron knew about it—was hurt because of him and his stupid choices.

How stupid he was, and now, he couldn't find her and ask for apology.

Luna Lovegood.

The most eccentric woman he had ever met, and yet, she was the person who understood him most.

The person who had never failed to make him smile, the person who managed to stay calm and serene despite of all the things that had happened to her, the person who had touched his life more than once, in the most amazing ways and times.

Harry couldn't believe how stupid he was, how he took her for granted, and now she's gone… gone… and now because of his stupid choices he could never thank her of all the things she had done for him and not asking something for return, he could never hold her warm hand, he could never embrace her and make her feel that she and their relationship meant a lot to him, he could never whisper in her radish-dangled ears the words that he had never once told her for he wanted to say those three words the day he would propose to her… a day that never came, and much to his disappointment, will never come…

Harry felt tears stinging his eyes as he thought bitterly of how many things he wanted to tell Luna, of how many Snorkacks he wanted to give her birthday, of how many Blibbering Humdingers he had sighted, of how they kept Nargles from infesting mistletoes just to make her smile.

He could never tell her how nice she looked on those spangled silver gown she wore years ago, nor tell her that she should wear yellow on their wedding day, nor ask her to make their children some jewelries like hers, nor exchange clothes for a day, nor visit her mother's grave even once…

He could never do them.

Not now that he was tied with Ginevra Weasley.

He wanted to curse, to swear, to jinx and to hex everything that happened, he wanted to scream and shout that this wasn't what he wanted, he wanted to leave and search for her… but he knew he couldn't. The chains of his marriage, of the wedding, of the children who will eternally hate Luna if he would do so, of the Wizarding World, of anything moral was keeping him from doing so…

He could never…

Never…

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"… and then, they lived happily ever after!" Ginny said, as she closed a Muggle book. She was sitting on the edge of Lily's rose-colored bed, caressing her daughter's long flaming hair. Lily was lying on the bed, with the mattress covering her up to her chin; she looked up to her mother.

"Do you think 'happily-ever-after's really, really, really exist?"

Ginny halted and cast a surprised look at her daughter, "W-why a-are you asking that, L-Lily?"

"Nothing much." The girl pulled her blanket to cover half of her face, "I was just wondering… if… Mum had a happy ending with Dad… was it like being a princess too?"

Ginny bit her lower lip, and she forced a smile at her only daughter, "Well… I think I did have my happy ending, of course, my Lily… Mum is very…" Ginny gulped, "… happy right now!"

Lily gave a wide smile, "That's neat!" she pulled herself up and kissed her mother's cheek, "Night, night, Mum!"

Ginny smiled weakly, "Sweet dreams, Lilianne…"

With a flick of Ginny's wand, the room's light was eaten by darkness. Ginny walked out of the room and shut it slowly. With a click, it was locked. Ginny felt her knees tremble, weak and feeble; after some seconds, her knees gave way to her weight. She covered her mouth with her hands as tears flooded her eyes, rolled down her cheeks and splattered noiselessly on the well-polished floor.

Happy? She was not happy at all! She lied to her daughter!

Ginny felt disgusted with herself, disgusted with what she was doing, and disgusted of what she had done. But what could she do? All she wanted was to be with the person who she fantasized and idolized since she was a child.

She placed her hand on the wall, as if her guide, as she walked to her room.

She stumbled, and fell on the floor; more tears ran down her cheeks. Ginny wanted to shout, to cry out in pain… she pulled herself up. Her vision was all blurry, and she could hear herself hiccup. She felt horrible…

Why did Lilianne have to ask such a question?!

Ginny curled up, with her back leaning on the wall; she knew she was going to look ugly after crying, she knew Harry might not like it if she looked ugly when she wakes up, but something inside Ginny told her that she _should _cry, that she cannot live in such an ideal world that Harry built… but her mind told her that if she continued to be like this, Harry might be disgusted and call her a human hosepipe…

It was not well at all… Ginny wished, in the deepest and darkest of her heart… that somehow… despite everything _he_ had done to her… everything _he_ had to make her go through… she wished that _he_ be right here with her… that _he_ comfort her that night… that _he_ who_ she simply loved_ could come back and cradle her in _his_ arms, tell her that it was going to be fine…

Ginny would give anything at the moment so that her diary was back. She would give anything, as _he_ would give anything to her.

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A/N: I'm sorry if the chapter is a little sucky (or if it did suck very much...)... I'm a little ditzy and... well, out there at the moment. XD

In this fanfiction, Lily's whole name is Lilianne. So it's Lily for short, because it terrifies me that Lily's name is just "Lily". AND! McGonagall is the Headmistress of Hogwarts because she is made of AWESOME!! And you had just witnessed me and my Tom/Ginny fetish be inserted in the fic. Hahah. I really just had to do that… I hope you don't mind!

The way I'm writing Ginny right now, I feel extremely sorry for her… I want to give her a happy ending. ;; But no, not with Harry, since Harry doesn't do Ginny justice! Draco's already taken already… unless of course, you want Stellar to die… (but I love Stellar too! She was named after my favorite character in Gundam Seed Destiny but [GSDspoiler: Stellar died)… then again, there's still Neville and Dean…

**A/N (and bit of random mini-rant, you can skip this one): **I'm a bit depressed right now and can't think properly while typing (thus the incoherence) because of **xxxHolic **(which I am currently addicted to…)… I'm still in denial that CLAMP wanted Doumeki/Watanuki… I wanna have Yuuko/Watanuki in canon… huhuhuhu… too bad CLAMP are yaoi fangirls… especially now that I had just discovered that "**X**" is in fact yaoi, and so are most of the mangas that were made by CLAMP. No. No. No. No. [cries I deleted all my scans because I was so depressed… I really shouldn't invest too much on shipping. I have bad luck with me when it comes to shipping, I swear.


	10. Malfoy Misfit

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A/N: ;; Cheers to those who had waited for so long! To the dearest people who wanted Luna Lovegood to be officially in the fanfiction, here it is! (OMG, you guys are so going to kill me for making this chapter... I mean... I've read your reviews!)

Although, I'm going to tell you, I'm a bit of a screwed up person, so don't expect me to make everything easy for Harry and Luna and the rest of the characters. I'm a difficult sadist in fanfiction, and I want my characters to suffer. Hahahahaha! (evil!plotbunnies of doom!)

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**Chapter 10**

**Malfoy Misfit**

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A woman was standing at a cliff: her dirty-blonde locks swirled and swayed as the gentle breeze played with it; her sleeveless white dress flittered along with the sway of her hair. A white tulip was perched behind her left ear, her hands behind her form.

She began to look back at the person looking at her ever so slowly. It felt like forever before she was completely before him. She sat and reached out her hands to him.

"_Come…"_

Albus shot his eyes wide. He was in his room at the Malfoys'.

"It was a dream?" he asked his self as he rolled on the side. "It almost seemed real…" Albus noticed a small picture beside him: it was Ms. Luna Lovegood's picture. He pulled it from its original place, and held it out in front of him. It wasn't the same picture as in his dream, but it was the same woman, smiling at him as if they knew each other. Albus placed the picture back beneath his fluffy pillow, "… I hope we see each other soon… Ms. Luna Lovegood…"

Albus Severus Potter did not notice the door close quietly as he sank into another deep, yet dreamless sleep.

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_Chirp, chirp_…

"_Ugh… don't… please… stop…_"

Albus' hand touched a rather glossy flat thing beside him, he immediately opened his eyes.

'…' he muttered as he covered his face with his hand. Albus rolled to his side as he averted his eyes to the picture once again. It saved him from his nightmare—or lack of thereof. It was wrong, but he found his self wondering when he could meet the lady in the picture—malice not included though.

"She does live here…" said Albus mentally. He bolted upright, "Of course! Why haven't I thought of it before?! Drat it, Albus Severus, you're such an idiot!"

He rushed outside, only to be knocked backwards.

"So early." Said the whimsical voice that belonged to nobody else but Diana. She wore a periwinkle blue night gown that flowed to her ankles. She was sitting in a seemingly disgraceful way on the floor but she stood up as if nothing had happened and proceeded to ask Albus, "Are you going to do ten impossible things before breakfast?"

Still on the floor, Albus gaped at her comment, "I… ah, no. I don't do impossible things."

"You sure?" she asked, bending so that they could look at each other's eyes.

"I… ah… yeah." He stammered. Why was he always the one with such luck—or lack of thereof?

"I see… well, better go off and walk upside down!" she exclaimed happily, flouncing away. Albus then remembered that it was her mum that he (desperately) wanted to see.

"Diana!" he called out at her. She looked back, "Yes?"

"I… could you… could you…"

"Could I?" she tilted her head sideways.

Albus took a deep breath and said, "Could you take me to your mother?"

Diana gave him a look of surprise, a look that will forever be etched in Albus' memory for it was one of the rarest that existed. "Why… why do you ask?"

"I… I… just… I just felt…" he trailed off, unsure of what to say. Indeed, why did he suddenly feel the need to know a complete and utter stranger? It was not because she was Diana's mother, neither was it because she was considered as Aunt Luna by Scorpius… maybe it was because of curiosity.

Then, why was he curious?

"I-if you don't want t-to… i-it's fine—" but his words were cut off by Diana herself. She took his hands and held it tightly, "That's really nice!" her eyes were widening with happiness—a happiness that he couldn't manage to grasp. He then found his self being pulled by her to the staircase. Since Diana was almost running, Albus had to run too. She seemed really excited.

"Here we are!" she exclaimed as she pointed a door that looked very much every other doors in the manor: strange. Flying—moving—multicolored butterflies danced on the surface of the door, but not really touching the plane. It was surreal.

"Don't you think… she'll be disturbed?" asked Albus, feeling rather unsure of what was happening. Diana shook her head, "Actually… I think she would love to see you."

"B-but…"

It was too late, Diana had already opened the door.

Inside the room, it was spacey but empty, except for a single accessory: a beautiful cobalt blue bed embedded with sapphire crystals on its embroidery and a woman who seemed to be in graceful slumber. Albus' feet seemed to have a life of its own as it started to walk towards the bed: the closer he got to her, the livelier the room seemed to be. The seemingly blank walls were from where he could see, was painted with glittering white crushed pearl-like _something_, the carpet of the room seemed to have the same surreal butterflies as was on the door. The cerulean blanket seemed to be alive, for when Albus touched it, it was cool like the ocean and slippery too.

But it was nothing to the woman on it.

Though not extremely beautiful as what princes and other people would expect, she was beautiful in her own right—it was despite Albus being a mere twelve year old boy. Her extremely long dirty-blonde hair fanned across the surface of the bed, as if a halo of her being, she was pale but not too porcelain like, nor too fake. She was in a deep slumber—or at least that was what Albus thought.

"Won't she be angry when she wakes up?" asked Albus, still fixated at the older woman before him.

"I don't know." Answered Diana, a trace of sadness on her voice. "But maybe not, since Mum isn't the one who is easily angered."

"Hn…" Albus tilted his head. His heart wanted to stay with her, for some unknown reason, but his mind screamed that he should leave. He turned his back on Ms. Lovegood, "I think I should leave…"

"Why?"

"I… I'm…"

A growl erupted from his stomach; Diana gave him a stare and she giggled. Albus blushed.

"Of course."

Albus started to walk away from Luna, but his heart felt heavy. Something in him really wanted to remain beside her, so that when she woke up…

"Should I ask Mel to make you breakfast?" asked Diana. Albus stopped on his tracks and his thoughts: digesting what she had just asked, he nodded.

With a deep regret building on his stomach, Albus cast one more glance at the sleeping form of Luna Lovegood.

A sole butterfly fluttering on the background was the last thing Albus saw before the door closed.

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"I envy you!" exclaimed a very flustered Rose as Albus recounted his visit at Diana's mother's room. "It's so unfair! How come Albus get to see Ms. Lovegood?!"

"But she was asleep at that time, no big deal!" retorted Albus. He was becoming irate with Rose's constant badgering of how lucky he was and all because he 'met' Diana's mother. "How can we meet if she's sleeping?!"

"But you still—"

"I told you—"

"BOTH OF YOU, SHUT UP!" the usual drawling voice that belonged to Scorpius shouted with seemingly compressed exasperation and irritation, "Can't you even _read_ in peace?! And you're supposed to be COUSINS!"

"But he—"

"I told you—"

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" Scorpius pulled his hair in annoyance and was at the verge of banging his head on the wall as the cousins bantered of useless things. Diana on the other hand was busy poking a snapping book, Albus wondered whether her hobbies included poking something weird.

They were in Stellar's library, which contained almost a thousand books on different genres: there were Muggle stories, Stories of Beedle the Bard, books on potion making, transfiguration and other stuff. It was all because Rose said to their parents that they were going to the Wiltshire Manor for research and stuff—not because of Quidditch and things like that, which were supposed to be the real purpose of their stay.

"Shh! It's a library." Diana suddenly popped, placing a finger before her lips.

Scowling, Scorpius returned to his reading, "Hogwarts, A History" wherein he had to make a three foot essay on wizard-goblin wars, Albus had already finished his and was now starting his essay on Potions. Rose, being the book-smart, had already finished all her tasks before she even set foot outside of Hogwarts on their last week at the school; Diana on the other hand… Albus had no idea, but since she wasn't doing any kinds of essays and such, he thought that she may have finished hers already.

Albus felt a prick on his back. He looked back, and there she was, with Stellar. Luna Lovegood was standing beside Stellar, clad in a shocking yellow dress, her feet covered with what seemed to be orange-yellow doll shoes.

"Hello, children! How about a little tea?" said Stellar clapping her hands. Luna Lovegood smiled nonchalantly at him and the rest. Something told Albus that there was something wrong…

"Sure," Replied Scorpius; Rose nudged him, he hastily added, "Mum."

Stellar blushed at the addendum, and smiled. She turned at Rose, "How about you?" Rose nodded. And so did Diana and Albus. Stellar and Luna left the room.

"Oh my God…" Rose gasped, then turned to Diana, "Diana! Why didn't you introduce us to your mother?!"

"Oh, you would like to meet Mum?" Diana blinked. "I thought you didn't like to meet her… she was once an editor of the Quibbler."

"No… I mean, I haven't even read the Quibbler, and only relied on Mum, Aunt Ginny's and other people's comments about it… but, well, since Auntie Stellar—"

"You're calling her Auntie Stellar?!" Scorpius gave her a bewildered look, but Rose ignored him.

"—told us about their discoveries and stuff like that… I think I'm, you, know, wrong about it…"

"I… I didn't know." Diana murmured, placing her right thumb before her lips, as if wanting to bawl.

Rose sighed in defeat, "It's okay… we can always ask her… but, I was wondering… Is your mother always like that?" asked Rose, a little surprised, "She didn't even talk…" Scorpius was looking from his book. "I mean…"

"Not really. It only happened recently." Answered Diana rather sadly. "She's not herself, you see." Rose raised a brow, but did not speak.

Albus took a breath, "W-What happened?"

Diana looked at him with her great eyes, "My…"

"It's OK if you don't say anything." Said Scorpius, closing his book. "They will understand that, won't you?" Scorpius stressed every word, so it was hard to say that it was misunderstood.

"Thank you." She smiled at him; Albus felt a frown was forming on his lips. She turned to Rose and Albus, "I hope you don't mind if I won't tell."

Rose pursed her lips, "It's not like we can force it out of you, can we?" she turned to Albus, who also nodded.

"Thank you." Muttered Diana, as she smiled at Albus and Rose. Scorpius shrugged.

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Albus sighed.

It was already their third week at the Manor, and all they did were to read and read and read more books, although they were amazing and really odd, it was getting rather boring. Yes, they did play Quidditch sometimes, but since Rose was always complaining of various things (like practicing for their Transfiguration and essays for History of Magic).

He heard a cough. Albus turned his head, Scorpius was on the door of his room. Scorpius seemed to bring something with him. (Albus thought that it was food)

"Thanks." Said Albus as he was about to grab whatever Scorpius had. The blonde boy pulled away what seemed to be a tray of cookies.

"Never said they were for you." Replied Scorpius, as he took a cookie and bit off a little from it. "Oi!" Scorpius exclaimed as Albus suddenly took a handful of cookies.

Albus replied with a smirk, "Never said they were yours either."

"Nice. Really learning, are we?" said Scorpius, plopping down on Albus' bed. He placed the cookie tray between him and Albus. "…"

"Mmm… these cookies are great. Who made them?" asked Albus.

"Mum and Aunt Luna, although Rose and Diana helped… Lyra wanted to help also, but Dad took her with him to Diagon Alley."

"For what?"

"Dunno… they said something about… uh… what was it… ah. I forgot about it." Scorpiua replied. "Say, Albus, is it just me or—" a shriek reverberated from outside, "—it's Rose." Albus gave him a surprised look, "She's been shrieking with delight these days, since she got to ask Mum loads of stuff…"

"… how about Diana?" asked Albus, as he suddenly found the floor interesting.

"Hn?"

"…"

"What about Diana?" asked Scorpius.

"…"

"Hello? Wizard to wizard, hello?"

"…"

"You're hopeless."

"… it's not like that…" Albus frowned, "It's just that…"

"That…?"

"… I dunno… I just… nah, just forget it. It doesn't matter." Replied Albus, although he cannot hide the fact that he was disappointed by his lack of will to talk about it.

"Tell me, why is it that you're so fascinated with Diana's mum?" asked Scorpius. His brows furrowed. Albus sighed, "I don't know… I don't know either…"

Scorpius raised his brows, "… are you sure you don't know why?"

"Why… did you ask?"

"Nothing." Replied Scorpius, grabbing another cookie which was almost forgotten, "I was just wondering if… well, just if…"

"If what?"

"I dunno… maybe you're looking for a person who you'd want to be your mother… and since Aunt Luna's Diana's mum…"

"That's ridiculous, Scorpius!" scowled Albus, "Why would I want to look for another mother when I have my mum?"

"I dunno. Maybe because Mrs. Potter suddenly changed her attitude towards you?" asked Scorpius, although for Albus, it was something to be confirmed by a nod from him. Albus could feel Scorpius was staring at him.

Albus shrugged, "Nah… I think I got over it already… my mum being upset about me being in Slytherin and all, I guess she'll be back to her usual self when I come home."

"Well, if that's what you think. Fine. It's not like whatever I say will change what you want, right?"

Albus replied with a grin on his face. He was expecting the worst, but hoping for the best.

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A lightning stroke from the dark clouds, creating an eerie picture of light being drawn at the black sky; whooshes and gusts of strong winds could be heard crashing on the front lawn. A storm was raging outside the manor, and the children were huddled together, listening to a pale young woman before the fireplace.

"… a heliopath is a large spirit of fire that guards the cave where Grindelwald is!" with her oddly misty eyes widening, Luna Lovegood was telling her father's story to the children who were grouped together for the night.

"AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

A loud thunder roared, echoing through the four walls of the sitting room. Rose covered herself with a thick woolen blanket, she was almost crying.

"Why… why… why does thunders exist…" she whimpered. Luna tilted her head sideward, and asked, "You're afraid of thunder?"

Rose nodded, but quickly withdrawn in the blanket as another lightning stroke. After some seconds, another deafening thunder echoed.

Diana was clung on Rose's arm, making half of her body covered by the blanket; Scorpius was beside Diana while Albus was beside Rose; Stellar and Draco was nowhere in sight, as Lyra was bawling her eyes out earlier, causing the unmarried couple to hush her to her bed.

"Why, there's nothing to be afraid of!"

"But… it's… scary! What if we get hit by thunder?!" she cried. The boys panicked, while Diana and Luna stared at them.

"Come on, Rose! Don't cry like that!" exclaimed Scorpius, his hands flailing before him.

"Rosie, it's just a thunder—"

"It's just a thunder?! It's_ just_ a thunder" she was in hysterics. "What—"

"You should calm down, you know. It's bad for the health to have high blood pressure at such a young age." Replied Diana calmly, although Rose was already squeezing her arm tightly.

"Calm down—" another boom of thunder "—how on Merlin's beard can I calm down when we are in a middle of a storm and earsplitting thunders?! HOW?!"

"Oh it's easy." Replied Luna, as she pulled Rose and hugged her. Not too tight and not too loose. Another thunder rolled and Rose gasped. But she no longer screamed, and Albus thought he knew why.

As the thunder growled and roared at the atmosphere, Rose was quivering with fright. She no longer shouted: her arms were around Luna's middle and was hugging the grown woman.

"You only need a companion." Said Luna serenely as she brushed Rose's bushy locks with her hands. She then looked up at Albus, "You've been here for almost a month… but I don't know you."

"Oh, sorry… I… I'm Albus Potter. Albus Severus Potter…"

"Albus Potter Albus Severus Potter, what a strange name!" she exclaimed. "But don't you have two words that are repeated—"

"It's only Albus Severus Potter, Miss Luna." Rose mumbled.

"Is that so?" she tilted her head, "Why… it sounds awful. Don't people laugh when they hear your name?"

Albus looked up at her and there was no malice whatsoever in her way of speaking, and in her facial expression. She was being and completely honest of what she was telling them… not that Albus felt otherwise. He certainly had an odd name.

"No… my dad said it's a good name."

"Really? I think we should meet so that I could tell him to look for a more convenient name, rather than something that was like a raffle ticket or a game of MASH."

Albus felt a titanic piece of boulder was crushed on his small back (comically, though). He couldn't help but agree… it was a rather ridiculous name, and he wondered why of all names—Albus and Severus… of course he knew it was after two headmasters of Hogwarts, but still… it was overkill.

"You know… I think I remember knowing a person with a name of Potter." She said thoughtfully, seemingly lost in a daze.

"That's fantastic, Mum!" exclaimed Diana.

"I know!" Luna clapped her hands in delight, "Now where were we?"

Rose, who was now feeling more comfortable despite the stormy weather, and Albus looked at each other with raised brows.

_What was happening?_

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"What?!" exclaimed the two cousins as they took their supper at the Malfoys. It was only the children and Stellar who were at the grand dining room of the manor. Draco, Scorpius' father, and Luna was nowhere in sight.

"Calm down, children." Said Stellar, putting her fork down. "It's not like it's the end of the world for you. You just had to go home earlier than we expected."

"But we were having a great time here!" frowned Rose, "I… I was having a lot of fun with Quidditch… and your cookies were great… I don't want to go home yet." She looked really down.

"Couldn't we send an owl to my parents that we need to stay here?" asked Albus, knowing that Rose was really upset about it. In their home, Rose was always the one who needed to be really smart and book-smart like her mum.

Stellar gave a smile, "I would love for you children to stay here… but it seems that your parents still cannot leave their prejudices." She sipped her coffee. "I wouldn't be too surprised when they find out about your injuries—", she pointed Albus with her brows, "—they'll say it was attempted murder. Typical Gryffindor."

"Not all Gryffindors are like that." Muttered Rose.

"Hn… if you say so." Chirped Stellar.

Although they perfectly know, through their first year albeit in an infinitesimal way, that what Stellar said was true.

"Seriously, if you have to ask me, blood doesn't matter." Stellar said, more of passing than anything else, "But neither does what Hogwarts House you were in determine what kind of person you are…" Frown etched on Stellar's face, "Oh, why aren't you eating? Poor Mel will be devastated if you won't eat! She made sure that when you eat your last dinner here, it will be fabulous!"

Albus, feeling a little embarrassed and disappointed at the same time, returned to his food. He glanced at Rose; the frown on her face wasn't wiped away.

"Do you like strawberries?" coughed Scorpius. Rose nodded. "You can take mine then." Scorpius took a spoon and rolled the strawberries on his plate to hers.

"Thanks." Murmured Rose, as she gave a small smile to Scorpius.

"Hn." Was Scorpius' reply. Albus smiled at him, Scorpius shrugged. Diana was playing with her food, which was Italian spaghetti.

It was sad.

He wasn't able to fully explore the manor, nor was he able to go beyond the field that they used for playing Quidditch.

Maybe next time, they really should make something like a to-do-list to make things easier.

Not only will he leave too early, but, he wasn't able to talk to Miss Luna Lovegood as he wanted. She was always seen with either Stellar or with Draco, and she seemed to be always nowhere in sight. Her room, despite being unlocked when he and Diana went there a couple of days ago, seemed to be _always_ locked.

He wondered whether seeing Ms. Lovegood in her room was just a dream after all.

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"We'll miss you, Auntie Stellar!" Rose and Albus embraced Stellar, who was the one who led them to the gates of Wiltshire manor. Draco, Lyra, Diana and Luna had already given their byes and whatnots to the kids, stayed at the manor.

"I'm sure going to miss you." Stellar kissed the foreheads of the two children. "Mwah, and I'm sending you lots of love from Wiltshire manor."

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were the ones who fetched the children; Ron snorted at the given affection for his child. Hermione gave him a glare. Ginny was rather stone-faced, and Harry just couldn't understand _why_.

"Thanks, Auntie Stellar." Rose sighed, "It was really great. And Ms. Lovegood too." Albus nodded in agreement.

"_Lovegood_?" mouthed Ron at the other three, "_Do you think it's Luna?_"

"Hn… I don't think so." Ginny replied coolly, "Might be her kid though, James told us about meeting the grandchild of Mr. Lovegood. Might be her."

Harry saw, at least he thinks he saw, there was a look of triumph was etched on Ginny's face.

"Well, that's… uh…" Hermione was looking at Harry, "…uh…"

"That's nice." Harry cleared his throat. He felt an icy feeling of regret in his chest despite his reply.

"Of course, that's nice." Smirked Ginny. She patted Albus' shoulder, "Well, little tyke, let's home." Albus nodded.

"See you at Hogwarts Express, Your-Four-Eyed-Highness." sneered Scorpius, Albus replied with a smirk, "As you wish, Your Honorable-King-of-Snarks." Ginny looked aghast. This was not the Albus Severus Potter she had raised! Harry wondered whether George was in Wiltshire manor too.

Scorpius turned to Rose, "And you too, Your-Bossy-All-Knowingness."

"Why thank you, Monsieur-King -of-Snark. See you soon. Beh." Rose stuck her tongue out. Ron looked like he was going to faint.

_His_ Rosie was being _Slytherinized_! Hermione only gave a surprised look of amusement.

The three kids approached the rented Muggle car, which was a good few meters away. When they were out of earshot, Ron approached Stellar, fuming.

"What have you been teaching my daughter, you Slytherin… _scarlet woman_!" he pointed his wand at Stellar. Harry swiveled his head, _Scarlet woman?_

"Ron! What are you doing?!" Hermione exclaimed, she held the wrist of Ron's wand hand.

"Haven't you seen, 'Moine?! Haven't you bloody seen?! Rosie's acting strange!" he whirled his head at Stellar who was just staring at him, pointing the wand at her throat. "What did you do, you… you're your filthy pureblood madness—"

"Ron's right, Hermione. Even Albus is different." Snarled Ginny, she too brandished her wand, "Lady, listen, if I hear anything more about you getting acquainted with my family, you'll pay."

"Ron, Ginny, this is stupid." Said Harry, causing Ginny to drop her jaws. He turned to Stellar, "I'm sorry about this. They're just too overprotective of the children." He turned to Ron, "Ron, _put that wand down_."

"NO!"

"_Expelliarmus!_" a seemingly drawling voice chanted, and both Ron's and Ginny's wands left their hands. Draco Malfoy, in a long leather coat that billowed as he walked to the gates.

"What are you doing to my wife?" Draco snarled at the wandless opponents. "I heard something like _pureblood madness_? Looks like you went to the wrong place."

"Wrong place?!" Ron shouted, "You and your filthy pureblood family—"

"Aren't you a pureblood?" asked Stellar, but she was ignored.

"—you were the ones who were… with that crackpot aunt of yours who almost killed Hermione because she's a Muggleborn!"

"Ron, this is stupid, you know it!" Hermione was flustering. She turned to Stellar, "I'm really sorry about this. I'm really, really sorry."

"It's fine. I don't expect him to be not narrow-minded about Slytherin." She said. Harry whirled at her. "The Weasleys are very much known to have prejudices against Slytherin, no matter who it may be."

Ron and Ginny turned beet red.

"Why you—"

"Ginny, cut it out." Harry turned to Ron, "Ron, I know you're worried about Rose and Albus, I am too, but just… calm down!"

"This crackpot lady?!" Ron was in hysterics and pointed at Stellar. Draco glared at him, "I can't believe how stupid I was when I had let Hermione say 'yes' to this crazy woman!"

(Stellar: Oh look, he's in hysterics! Mr. Weasley is in hysterics!

Draco: Stellar, you can joke later. This is _serious_.

Stellar: But I _am_ serious!)

"If you have any problems with Stellar, talk, don't just throw out your wand at her." Draco rolled his eyes, "It's not like she's can't talk and only opens her mouth just to perform curse."

His ears deep red already, Ron took a sharp breath, "Listen. If I see you talk to my children, or even dare get close to them—"

"It's not my fault that they like me, you know." Stellar said, smiling happily.

"What?!" Ron gaped at her. Draco raised a brow.

"Yes." She replied, "It's a shame, you're supposed to be their parents and despite being with them all their lives, you don't know what they really want to be and force them to be something they aren't. Isn't that the same as an Imperius Curse?" Draco remained silent, as if he was letting her do all the talk. He twirled Ron's and Ginny's wands on the air, next to him.

"Imperius?!" Ron was eyeing the wand, then turned at Stellar, "Do you know—"

"I perfectly know what an Imperius Curse is." She replied, still smiling, "And I must admit that it's rather handy—"

"See, I told you she's a crackpot!"

"One more word against Stellar, Weasley, and your wand is toast." Draco hissed as he pointed his wand at Ron's own. Harry brandished his wand out, and so did Hermione, and pointed it at Draco.

"Draco, we don't want to fight here." Harry said, "But if you're going to destroy Ron's wand, I cannot let that pass."

Hermione took a deep sharp breath and lashed out at the two men, pointing her wand first at Ron, then at Draco, "We settled this already, didn't we, now why are you two trying to kill off each other again?!"

"It's because Malfoy's an idiot." Ginny jeered. Stellar raised a brow, she placed her hand inside her robes, and Harry sort of figured it out that she was hiding her wand there.

"Shut up, you're just adding insult to injury." In everyone's surprise, Hermione snapped back.

"I'm supposed to be the person you're agreeing with!"

"Hermione's right, Gin. Stay away from our problem." Harry said, his wand still pointing at Draco. Ginny was simply aghast.

Stellar let out a whoosh of air and took her left hand out from her robes. Much to Draco's irritation, she then smiled happily at them, "Now, now. You might forget the real reason why you were shouting."

"—ar!!"

"What's that?" asked Hermione.

"-aco!"

"Oh. I wonder what happened inside!" exclaimed Stellar.

"Stellar! Draco!" a whimsical voice caught Harry's attention. From the graveled path of the manor, a woman with straggly knee-length dirty blonde hair in a shocking egg-yolk yellow knee-length dress was flouncing.

Harry dared believe what he was seeing. He did not see Ron nor Hermione's reaction to the approaching figure.

"What's wrong?" asked Draco. Harry shot his eyes up.

_Since when was Draco friends with Luna?!_

"I'm sorry, but Lyra was looking for you and she just won't stop crying." Her whimsical voice was music to Harry's ears. It has been such a long time indeed… and yet, here he was, speechless and rooted to his place.

"I'm going." Draco said, turning away. "C'me on, Luna."

"Wait! Can't we talk to Luna?!" Ron exclaimed. Stellar looked shiftily at Luna, while Luna tilted her head sideways, as if watching a rather interesting show on television.

Harry felt his heart skip a beat.

What should he do now that Luna's finally back?! What should he say?! Now that he was thinking about it… he had no idea what he was going to do when he sees her! How can he be such an idiot not to think of it. Harry wanted to kick his self mentally for being such a pathetic idiot.

Draco stared at Ron with an expressionless face.

Harry's hand was quivering. Should he say 'hi'… but that wasn't enough for the pain he had caused her!

"Luna, how are you?" Hermione approached Luna, who stared at her. For a moment, Harry thought she was just going to stare at Hermione.

"Oh… I'm… I'm rather fine, thank you." Hermione furrowed her brows.

"So… how's the… er…" Hermione looked at Ron.

"Uh… Wackspurts?" Ron said, more of a guess than anything.

"Oh, those malevolent little critters!" Luna exclaimed happily, "Those fuzzy invisible bugs surely can't easily be shooed away of course!"

Ron looked at Hermione, he mouthed something to her, and somehow Harry understood what it was: _She's pretty normal to me._

Harry then averted his eyes to Draco, who was still frozen in place, just like him, and then to Stellar who was completely… expressionless.

"Luna…" Harry murmured. Luna turned to him with her oddly misty eyes pure with something that Harry could not decipher yet, "Yes?"

"I…" Harry bit his lower lip. What was he going to do now? His knees were feeling rather weak, and his lips were getting rather dry. Was it just him, or he could definitely hear his heart thump faster and faster? He wanted to raise his hand and wave, but he seemingly couldn't command his arms to do so; he wanted to smile at her, but he wondered what her reaction would be… would she be angry at him? Would she be disgusted? Would she be ashamed of him? Harry had no idea…

But… he had to know… he had to say sorry… he had to ask for an acceptance of apology that even he knew, he did not deserve… he began to walk to the only woman he—

"What are you going to do?" he heard Ginny hiss.

Luna was just less than a meter away from him. It was now or never.

With a sharp intake of breath, Harry took Luna's hand. He pulled her to him, and enclosed her in an embrace.

"Luna… I'm sorry…" he muttered in her ear.

He wanted to cry, he wanted to shout, he wanted to thank all the gods that Luna was fine, that Luna wasn't involved in an accident, that Luna was alive and well, that Luna…

"Excuse me but…" he heard Luna say. He loosened his embrace on her and looked at her in the eyes. Harry felt his world collapse into ruins when he heard her say…

"Excuse me, but… who are you?"

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A/N part 2: WHOA… frigging fourteen pages?!

A/N part 3: I am now ready for criticisms and whatnot. I know you already have your pitchforks and stake because of what I have done, I am ready. XD I told you, didn't I? I'm probably a lot more screwed up person than JK because I want characters to suffer and I too can pull off those cheesy, vomit-like passages… burn me now. Hahaha. Have you read any shippy subtexts? I hope you did, cause when I was rereading the whole chapter, I was like… o.0 _Did I put that there?!_ I hope you enjoyed the chapter as much as I did when I was typing it (I've got to admit though, I can't do fluffy nor adventurous themes well… I'm more of a drama/tragedy writer…)!

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE IDEA OF SURREAL MOVING BUTTERFLIES ON SURFACES—IT WAS xxxHOLIC, BY CLAMP. There, before I get sued.

**RECOMMENDING AN H/L FIC: Empathy Beyond Measure **and **Luna's Year**


	11. The Wizard Related Muggle News

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A/N: First of all, I'd like to thank you guys for sticking with Darkness Rising even though the previous chapter is a 'WTF' for most—if not all—readers. I understand what you're talking about, and I myself, when I reread it, it was indeed 'WTF' worthy. I know my fanfictions aren't **michelle31a** caliber (who btw, is one of the best—if not THE—Harry/Luna fanfiction authors, IMO), and it is with flaws, so I hope you'd understand. Kudos and hugs to all!

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**Chapter 11**

**The Wizard-Related Muggle News**

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"_Excuse me, but… who are you?"_

Harry felt a pain searing on his head and chest as he remembered her words at him when they were at the manor. No malice could be traced from her airy voice, her eyes showed nothing but honesty, and the way she looked at him was nothing but innocence.

She was Luna Lovegood and yet…

"Harry, you should get over it already." Said Ginny, placing a cup of tea on the table. She seemed rather more enthusiastic since they returned from Wiltshire Manor. "Maybe Luna was just pretending she doesn't know you."

"She wasn't. Luna doesn't lie."

"Oh _please_, Harry." Ginny rolled up her eyes, "You know nothing about Luna. It's not like she hadn't lied in her entire life." She said happily, sitting beside Harry and placed her hand on top of his, "She doesn't know you as much as I do, it's not like she knows you either."

"Look, Ginny, I'm thinking of an _important matter_, if you don't mind, _I need presence of mind_." Harry snapped at her. Ginny was taken aback, but she did not concede.

"Is it much more important than I am?!" she exclaimed, "Excuse me, Harry, but as far as I remembered, I am your lawfully bonded wife! I have a right to know what things are important to you and not!"

Harry glared at her, "Always using that card nowadays, aren't you, Ginny?"

"I see nothing wrong reminding you that you are married to _me_, and not to just any other sluts out there." She snapped back, "You are _my_ husband and _father_ of _my_ children, may I remind you of that!"

"Mum, Dad, look what Lily and Albus found—" a boyish voice drowned at the lake of shouting and screams.

"I know my place here, Ginny. I haven't forgotten my responsibility as a father."

"You are _my_ husband!" she stood up, her face reddening. "You're supposed to think about me! And all you did was think about that bitch you've always been looking for! Am I not enough for you?!" her voice was reedy and irritating.

"SHUT UP!" Harry retorted back, "Don't call the person I was looking for a bitch, Ginny. She's nothing like a bitch, she's nothing _like you_. I know my place here as a father, seems like _you_ don't know _yours_!"

**CRASH.**

It was just then that they realized that James was there, the floor before him had broken pieces of a pot with a single sunflower plant in it. He looked pale and he was shaking, his eyes were wide with something that was rather indescribable. He took a step back.

Ginny shot a glare at Harry and then turned a smiling façade at the young boy, "Oh, did I scare—" but James looked completely horrified, and with a blink of the eye, he ran out of the room. "This is your fault!" exclaimed Ginny.

"My fault?! Mine?!" Harry shouted.

"Yes, yours!" Ginny looked braver than she usually was. It seemed like their visit at the Malfoys really made her year, "I'm not stupid, Harry!"

"That's news, I thought all you cared for was becoming my wife, nothing more, nothing less." Sneered Harry. Ginny looked dumbfounded, seemed like he had hit a nerve.

"Why… how… how dare… how dare you insult me!" she cried out. Kreacher, who was passing by the door, had shrieked and quickly left. "Son of a bitch!" she spat.

"Don't you dare call my mother a bitch, Ginny. You have no right, whatsoever." Harry replied darkly.

He took a step towards Ginny, who despite her earlier resolve, was now backing down. Harry couldn't help but feel resentment that he married a woman who had an emotional range of less than a teaspoon. She didn't understand Harry, let alone try; she had no idea who Harry James Potter was.

When Ginny was already leaning on the wall, Harry said, "One more time you say that my mother is a bitch, you're going to regret it, Ginny." Harry clenched his fists, and without any warning, he raised his arm. Ginny opened her mouth, and took a sharp breath. He swung his fists forward—he narrowly missed Ginny's cheek—and it made contact with the wall.

Harry winced. His right fist hurt because of his hotheadedness, but at the moment, he did not care. He clenched and unclenched his fists; Harry could see Ginny's brown eyes widen with shock and fear, he whispered dangerously at her ear, "I'm reminding you… I didn't want to marry you…"

Harry turned his back on her. He knew he must be the biggest bastard and biggest asshole in the world for doing that to his wife, and he knew somewhere, that what he did was probably abusive, both verbally and physically or something, but he did not care.

He couldn't seem to loosen up to Ginny even though they were married for nineteen frigging years. He couldn't seem to open up to her—let alone really love her.

"M-Master Harry?" croaked the voice that Harry immediately recognized as Kreacher's. He was hiding using elven magic, his tennis ball sized eyes were staring at him intently.

Harry, despite his bad mood, stopped. He cleared his throat, "W-What is it, Kreacher?"

"M-Master Harry… The children… they… they heard your conversation with the Mistress…" the house elf squawked, "B-Bad Kreacher!" he was about to take a poker and bang his head on it when Harry, upon impulse, had commanded him not to hurt himself in any way.

Harry sighed. Now he's got the kids to take care of…

"It's not a problem, Kreacher. They're bound to find out about it anyway… they're smart kids…" Harry said, although his insides were already crushed and churned already at the news. Kreacher bawled—but it was nothing to the sound that came from the sitting room, it seemed like Ginny had finally wet her eyes with the dreaded tears—and Harry felt that his head was going to explode. Problems were really piling up everywhere he went.

"Look, Kreacher… I… I'm going out tonight. Make the kids supper, tell them that I can't be here tonight because I've got to think of… well, things that needs to be solved…"

"H-how about the Mistess—"

"I don't know. Ask her." Harry replied harshly. Not that he cared.

"Kreacher misses Miss Hermione." Muttered the house elf as he swaggered to the kitchen, catching Harry's attention. "She treats Kreacher very nicely."

Harry couldn't help but smile, but couldn't help to take the hint that Kreacher gave. Now he wondered what it might've been if he didn't tell Ron that Hermione was 'like a sister' to him…

He heard a couple of footsteps from the stairs.

'Might be the kids…' muttered Harry, as he peeked. He, however, hadn't seen any trace of them. '… or it might just be my imagination…'

With one more look, he turned and Apparated. In his mind, there were only two places he would want to go…

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Harry stood in front of a small Muggle-looking house. It was a little like the houses at Privet, although the scent coming from the chimney didn't do justice to the seemingly "normal" surrounding. A small child, about Lily's age, came to view.

"Uncle Harry!" exclaimed the overexcited child. He had straight brown hair, and he seemed rather thin.

Harry forced a smile, "Hello, Hugo. Are your parents in?"

Hugo nodded fervently, and then he cried out, "MUUUUMMM!!! UNCLE HARRY'S HERE!"

"W-What?!" Hermione asked, as if she had just woken up. She then saw Harry, she shrieked, "Harry! Why didn't you say you were coming?" she asked loudly as she quickly walked to the gate of the house. "Come in, why didn't you just barge in like the usual?"

"…"

"Harry?" asked Hermione, looking worried. "Is… is it… about Luna?" she asked, her brows furrowed. Harry sighed and nodded.

Hermione turned to Hugo, "Go play with your sister, Hugo. Uncle Harry and I have business to talk about, okay?"

"Uhm!" the boy squeaked as he waddled inside. Hermione led Harry to the back garden of their home, which was hidden by magic.

"Nice spell, Hermione. Impressive." He said, as he witnessed the emerging green garden from a small space. "Still the best in our year even though time has passed…"

"Oh shut up, Harry. Ron might hear you." She giggled girlishly after she had hit Harry on the arm. She led him to a small table at the garden, she motioned him to seat. "Although he's not here… gossips have wings after all."

"Yeah… thanks…" he muttered.

All thoughts flooded back to him as he sat down on the cool chair.

"I'll just make some tea. Ron's still at work, he's got practice with the Cannons, really… really surprised..." She muttered as she pranced away, leaving Harry on his own.

Harry sighed, and he then felt a tight constriction at his chest.

Something painful and terrible was swelling in him: he felt really bad about what he did earlier… but at the same time, he had already sworn that he won't apologize, since for Harry, it wasn't his fault.

The blame should be placed on Ginny, and no one else.

He couldn't blame Luna for it. He had no right to blame her.

Luna was a victim more than anything else… he didn't know what happened to her _yet_.

His heart wouldn't want to believe that bad things happened to Luna, but the little voice in his mind told him otherwise. And things had turned out, that little voice was almost always right.

He wondered if it was because of him that Luna had lost her memory—or mind, but God forbid that—he felt bad. Terrible. Much more terrible than the feeling he had felt earlier for what he had done. Somehow, his mind told him that it was his fault, but his heart would argue that he hadn't done anything for her to be like that…

'_Really? But what about the day that you were supposed to be engaged?_' the tiny voice in his head said, '_Wasn't it the day that you told her that you got Ginny pregnant?_'

"But Luna is a strong person." Harry thought out loud, "She survived months being captived—", Harry wouldn't want to imagine Luna being tortured, "—in the cellar at the Malfoys…"

But Harry knew he was just lying to his self. In his deepest self, he knew that there was a possibility—a very distinct possibility—that Luna was indeed very hurt when he told her that they couldn't be together because he was going to marry Ginny instead.

The warm and inviting aroma of ground coffee took his senses and thoughts away as Hermione brought a tray with her. She sat opposite Harry and gave him a serious look.

"What did you come here for anyway? It's almost supper time…" She leaned closer, "What happened?"

Harry sighed. There was no point hiding it from Hermione, she was bound to know about it anyway.

"Ginny and I had another round today." He said. "She said I knew nothing about Luna and stuff…"

"Seriously, Harry. Do I have to spell it out for you?" replied Hermione darkly. Harry suddenly found the cup of coffee very entertaining to watch. "Harry, Ginny's just, well, a little insecure, if you ask me. I mean, it's not like this hasn't happened before right?"

"But Hermione, she's already my _wife_. It's not like divorce is allowed here in the Wizarding World." Harry grumbled.

"Actually… there is a way to get divorce… but it's really, _really_ rare." Said Hermione. "But I don't think your case won't count."

"How?" asked Harry.

"Oh promise you won't do anything, Harry!" exclaimed Hermione. Harry stared at her, "Hermione, it's not like I can divorce her… we do have the kids, I guess… that's the only thing that keeps us together after all these years."

"I know… and it's the reason why you married her too, right, Harry?" asked Hermione, looking a little down. She shifted on her seat, "I… Harry… I was really upset when you married Ginny, I admit that."

"Yeah." He plainly replied, as he didn't want to replay in his mind what had happened. But something told him that this talk with Hermione will only make him recount everything.

"It was stupid, Harry." She said, Harry looked up only to find her frowning. "Ron and I decided… not to talk about it in front of Ginny, and in front of James, because… we… we didn't want…" she took a deep breath, "We… we didn't want James to be hurt, nor Ginny."

Harry remained silent.

"Harry, do you think this is the right… I mean, is this… when… when will you tell James about it?"

"…"

"Harry, it is better that it comes from you, more than anyone else."

"No. Not yet." Harry replied silently. He could feel Hermione staring at him. He sighed, "He… James… James is still too young, Hermione. He may not understand things."

"But Harry…"

"I… let's just not talk about that—"

"We can't just not talk about it!" Hermione exclaimed, "Don't you think James will be hurt if he'd hear it from other people?!"

"Hermione, there are only people seven people who knew about it. Me, Ginny, you, Ron, Neville, Luna and Draco." He replied, shaking. "I have no intention in telling James yet, as I don't want him to feel different from his siblings—"

"But it doesn't make a difference! They are still yours and Ginny's children!"

"James just saw me and Ginny having our shouting match today, if I told him, don't you think he'll blame his self or his birth?"

"But he has a _right_ to _know_!"

"I _know_, but not _now_." Harry looked at Hermione's eyes. "James… he's just too young to understand it."

"Harry, you're acting like..." Hermione told him, "Don't tell me you're planning to be a Transfiguration Professor next?" she jokingly asked him. Harry then stared at her, and a smile curved on his dry lips.

"Shut up, Hermione. I have no intention in being Dumbledore the Second." He replied, smiling. The tension that seemed to be built up earlier was mellowed, and Harry was thankful that Hermione had thought of something to distract him. "Wait… Hermione, since when… since when did you learn to 'de-tensionize' a situation?" he bewilderingly asked her.

Hermione finally took a cup of coffee and took a sip, "Easy. Try living with Ron and me when we're both in a very bad mood… by the way, did you know that Ron's got high blood pressure?"

"No. But aren't you going to argue with me anymore?" asked Harry.

Hermione sighed, "It's not like whatever I say could change your mind, Harry." She raised a brow, "We've been best friends since we're eleven, and for the past twenty-six years of our lives, when did you listen to us?"

"I did listen to you, you know." He grumbled.

"Oh really?" she teased him. He blushed.

"… well, not all the time…"

"See?" she smiled back at him. "Oh! Almost forgot…" she said just before she stood up. "Wait here, Harry, I've got something to show you."

"What—"

"Just stay there." She said, as she went back inside the house, running. Harry could only stare at her leaving figure, trying to make sense of what she was trying to do. He then noticed the darkened water of the coffee; he held the cup on the sides, he could still feel a little warmth, although he was almost sure that it was going to taste rather stale because he had been ignoring it.

Feeling thirsty, he lifted the cup and emptied it in one big gulp. Not to his surprise, it was rather stale. He sighed, and without prior notice or anything, a book was slammed on the table, causing some of the tableware to shake. Harry stood up and backed away.

"HERMIONE!" Harry exclaimed. He looked at Hermione, the book, then back at Hermione. "Why did you have to slam that book right before my face?!"

"Oh sorry. You weren't paying attention, so I decided to surprise you a bit." She smiled and sat down. She pointed at the book, "Why don't you take a look at this?"

Harry nodded, but stared at the book. It was a large book, almost twice as big as _Hogwarts, A History_, and was four times as big as _Advance Potions Making_; its cover was almost peeled off and it seemed battered.

"Your favorite book?" asked Harry.

Hermione smacked her forehead with her hand.

"Uhm… your… uhm, authored book?" Harry tried again. Hermione raised a brow at him. "I quit, what's that."

"Harry, this—" she took the book, "—is an _ancient_—"

"So that's why it looked battered."

Hermione rolled her eyes and continued, "—book of runes. Do you remember the last rune sign we saw?"

"Grindelwald's sign?" asked Harry.

"No, Harry." She said, opening the book right in the middle of the thick pages. A large circle encrypted with different words (as Harry thought they were supposed to be), signs and symbols.

Harry looked up at Hermione with surprise, "This—"

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"Luna?" the unmistakable voice of Stellar Morgana called out, as if looking for the older Ravenclaw. "Luna?"

"Why does she always disappear?" Stellar slumped on the stairs of the porch. She closed her eyes for a minute.

"Stellar?" it was Luna's voice. Stellar jerked 'awake', and then looked left and right, looking for the 'missing' upper-class. "Up here."

Stellar looked up, and saw the upside down head of Luna, as she seemed to be on the roof. She shrieked, "Miss Luna?! What… what the heck are you doing there?!"

"I was looking Filengamot Flames. They could only be seen at very high places at sunset, you see." Luna replied nonchalantly, "Do you want me to go down?" she asked. She looked like she was ready to jump from the rooftop.

"Oh, please, don't! I'd like to find Filengamot Flames too!" Stellar clapped her hands. Although what she said was true, she was more worried that Luna might just disappear again.

Stellar saw a vine ladder and climbed the manor, despite of course, that she could very well just use magic to do so. But she was afraid that using magic might… no,

"Whoa… that… was tiring." Stellar complained as she threw back her head. She was now sitting at a rather plain part of Wiltshire Manor's roof. Her eyes fell on the Ravenclaw who lost her memories.

Luna's pair of oddly pale eyes was staring at the red-orange horizon of dusk. Her messily braided length of dirty-blonde hair fell over her shoulder with two pieces of differently colored roses at the end of her braid, one white and one red; she was sitting on the roof of a manor, feeling the soft breeze on her equally pale skin. She was clad with spaghetti strapped white cotton dress and was barefoot. On her neck, she wore a special necklace that Stellar and Draco made _just for her_.

"I don't know what to say, Luna." Confessed Stellar. "I mean… I'm sorry about last time, I suppose."

"Hm?" Luna looked at her with surprise, "What are you talking about, Stellar?"

Stellar gulped, "I mean… you know, when… I… never mind. It's not really important."

"No, it's very important." Luna looked at Stellar, her oddly misty eyes staring intently at the younger woman, "It must be very important or you wouldn't be reluctant in telling it to me."

"I… yes, it must be… but." Stellar sighed. "It's not important, for now… but… couldn't you really remember those people who went here? I mean, the parents of the children who were with us this vacation?"

"You mean Albus and Rose?" asked Luna.

"Yeah?"

"Well… I really _can't remember_ them." She replied.

Stellar looked away. There was still no progress even though they had already found sic feathers, "I see…"

Stellar felt her heart tighten, and an odd mixed feeling of sadness and regret had formed in her heart. She wondered how many years it had to take before Luna gets all her feathers back…

"But you know…" said Luna, "That person who embraced me…" Stellar looked at Luna. Her eyes were full of life and mixed emotions.

"What about him?" asked Stellar.

Luna placed her hand on her chest, as if feeling it; her face was serene as she closed her eyes.

"When he embraced me, my heart felt… many emotions I cannot understand. Somehow, despite him being a total stranger to me, I felt happy, but sad at the same time. He was warm, when he embraced me, I felt like his power was flowing to me too. I do not know what power it was, but… it was something, I _feel_ I know."

She continued, "My heart felt light and could touch the sky, even after he embraced me. But at the same time… when I remember him embracing me…" a frown formed on her lips. Just seconds later, her eyes were filled with tears. Luna continued in a sad voice, "I… I cannot help but feel sad at the same time."

Tears were now falling from her eyes, and Stellar knew she couldn't help her, "I cannot understand this feeling… I am happy in seeing him… but at the same time, my heart feels like… it's going to break with sadness… that I have no idea where it came from.

"My heart is a very strange thing… and this… this… wo… wonderful yet terrible… feeling on my chest…" tears did not stop falling from Luna's eyes, even though she was wiping them with her arms already. Her usually ethereal voice was breaking already, "…is getting mixed a lot more… it gets really complicated. I don't know what I feel anymore…

Luna's eyes looked hurt and confused. Stellar didn't know what to do anymore. "Is it possible, Stellar… to feel that you are happy to be with him for a mere split second? But at the same time… feel like your heart is constricting with a terrible amount of sadness?

Stellar reached for the crying woman, and hugged her; at the moment, she couldn't think of anything that could make the older woman calm down. She heard Luna murmur, "I must be going crazy… Stellar…"

"Of course you're crazy, Luna." Stellar planted a swift mother's kiss on Luna's forehead, "You're the person who proved the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks _did_ exist, weren't you? Weren't you the one who told me, that everyone was crazy and they're just too crazy to admit it?"

"Aa…" Luna muttered, but still cried.

They stayed like that until the full moon had risen on the star-filled darkness of the sky. Its light wasn't as bright as the sun, but the mere fact that it shone through the darkness was already a good omen.

"Stellar?" she heard Luna say.

"Aa?"

"That Harry Potter…" Luna continued. "He… he must be a very important person to me… right?"

"What do you mean by that?" asked Stellar, as she didn't know Harry personally before they met at the train station that year.

Luna moved away from Stellar, the younger woman looked at her with surprise. The older Ravenclaw wiped her eyes dry, and took a deep breath and smiled. "Thank you. I feel much better."

"It's nothing. You did say that one has to be honest with one's feelings." Stellar replied.

To Stellar's surprise, Luna stood up on the roof.

"Stellar… you asked me of what I meant… that Harry Potter was a very important person, right?" she said. She spread her arms wide, as if feeling the non-existent breeze.

After a split second, a strong wind swayed the branches and trees: Luna looked serene, despite her reddish eyes due to her tears, as the wind played with her hair and her dress billowed playfully.

Luna was indeed a child of air.

"You know… this feeling. This was the same feeling I felt when I saw Diana after I lost my feathers." She said, looking up at the moon.

Stellar looked up at the moon too, as if it was the most interesting thing in the world, "Really?"

"Yes… that… it must mean something, right?" said Luna, "Nothing happens because of coincidence… Harry Potter… I must know… why…" she closed her eyes.

"So are we going to another journey right after Diana goes to Hogwarts?" asked Stellar. Luna nodded. "You're really determined to get your feathers back, right?"

"Yes… not only for myself…" Luna said, the wind was still there, albeit weaker, "No one… belongs to herself alone… right?"

Stellar smiled.

"Luna… that Harry Potter, he must be a very important person to you." Said Stellar.

"I think so…"

"Of course he is." Replied Stellar. With a sigh, she continued, "Before you saw Harry Potter, you were very reluctant in finding your feathers. You told me that you were afraid…"

"To look for myself…" Luna said, looking a little down. "I… I still am scared… but…"

"Luna was… happy and sad too when she met Diana, one of your feathers was with her; that Luna was content with only knowing she met her child… she didn't want to know more because she was very afraid of what she might discover." Stellar said, she could feel Luna's eyes staring at her. "I guess, Harry Potter was a very, very important person because Luna… Luna is becoming herself again."

"Stellar?"

"No one was able to make you be very determined in getting your feathers back until Harry Potter came, right?" smiled Stellar. "But is Luna no longer afraid of knowing what the truth is?"

Luna nodded, "I am… still afraid. But… if I won't look for it, it's better to be dead than not knowing what the truth is, right? There… there must be a reason why things happen…" the wind blew once more.

"There is no coincidence." Stellar added.

"Only hitsuzen." Said Luna. She touched her nape, feeling an oddly encrypted circle on it. "Only inevitability."

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"What happened?" asked Lily, she looked really worried. "Brother?"

James looked alarmed, Albus noticed, but replied anyway, "Ah… it's… it's nothing." He said, looking rather tense. "I… I just… I had to go pee, you know."

"Ew, brother!" Lily gave a scowl, "That's gross!"

"You wanna hold my hand?" James made a mischievous smile that agitated the little girl, who ran to Albus Severus and hid behind him. "Hmph, so you chose him over me, Lily?"

"Eh?!" Albus gave a surprised look.

"But that's really gross brother! You made twinkly-twinkly and I think you didn't even wash your hands!" she whined, and grabbed Albus' arm. She turned to Albus, "Al, look, brother's gross!"

"Aa…" Albus covered his face with his hand. '_Why do I have to put up with them? Oh yeah… they're my siblings…_' Albus thought bitterly.

He heard Lily giggle, and then the grip on his arm was gone. He opened his eyes, and saw James leaning on the wall. He was shaking.

"Al?" murmured James.

"J-James?" Albus asked, approaching his older brother. His brother slipped from the wall and was apparently sitting on the cold floor. "J-James? Are y-you ok?"

"Huh? I… ah… yeah… I guess I slipped." James replied, scratching the back of his head with his right hand. Albus could see his hand shaking terribly. His eyes traveled to his brother's face, which was now split with a smile, albeit a forced one, at least for Albus.

"No you didn't." Albus said to his brother. "What happened?"

"No… it's… nothing…" James laughed.

Albus frowned, noting that he must really be distant with his family at the moment. He felt rather bad, because it seemed like James was really upset. He had always thought that nothing would make James upset, since he was the joker and the one always still grinning after a mischief.

He then remembered what Aunt Luna did when Rose was scared. Albus leaned to his brother and embraced him.

"Wha—" James seemed to protest, but Albus did not budge.

"It's okay, brother…" Albus whispered, as James began to shake violently, and after just some minutes, Albus' shirt was wet.

Albus felt both happy and sad.

Happy because for once in his life, James did not tease him, but he was sad because it was the first time that he had seen his brother really disturbed. He wanted to ask him what happened, but he couldn't. He just couldn't force someone to do that… besides, at the moment, he did not need to know everything… all he needed was his brother to be fine.

Albus dreaded whatever had made James like this. If someone like his brother, who would just take preaching and all with breeze, was shaking, it must be something terrible.

Very terrible… terrible…

'_Stop, please don't! I don't know what you're talking about!'_ a man with a squeaky voice pleaded. Albus looked at the man with contempt.

'Filthy mudblood,' Albus replied, 'I know you know about it. I had seen you…'

'_Please… I really don't know anything about it!_'

'Silence.' Albus' long fingers twirled the wand, 'Tell me all you know, or they—' Albus looked up at the people hung overhead, seemingly asleep, '—die.'

'_Please don't hurt them!_' the man pleaded, '_I swear to my grave, I have no knowledge of anything of the sort! Please, don't hurt them_—'

The man's eyes widened as Albus stared intently at the man. He proceeded to dive unto his memories, in search of the odd circle that had been bothering him. Satisfied that the pathetic man indeed had no idea about runes, despite being a graduate of Hogwarts, he left the man's manipulated mind. The man was now writhing on the ground, moaning in pain.

'I won't hurt them, as I have no business with them.' Albus replied coldly, 'However… they might just need someone to mourn.' Albus raised his wand, apparently irritated by the man's sound making.

The man's eyes widened with delicious fear, '_St—_'

In a flash of light, the man was on his back, no longer breathing, no longer moving.

"Pathetic." Albus murmured.

"What?" James asked, looking terrible.

Albus looked at his brother, wondering what he meant by his question, "Huh? Did I say anything?"

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"… and for the news, McRey, what's the commotion in Eton?" a man dressed with formal attire said, he seemed to be in a news studio. The word "News At Six" flashed on the screen, then another man appeared.

"Thank you, Andy. A man was found dead on a small cabin near Spinner's End, although the rest of his family was alive and well, they seemed to have no idea as to how the killing happened. Police said there was no sign of foul play, or poison, or anything…"

"… we'll be flashing the name of the victim on the screen…"

"… those people who knew this person…"

"… said he was a newspaper writer, I wonder what publication it was…"

On the television screen, words flashed:

"Dennis Creevey

30

Unemployed

Cause of death: still unknown, the police are still investigating on the matter."

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A/N PART 2: I know this tastes like crap, I'm sorry, I only have a _very limited_ time using the computer, so… sorry! I'm not sure how old Dennis is so let's just say he's thirty, OK?

A/N part 3: I'm mainly influenced by LOTS AND LOTS of anime/manga, so don't be surprised if some elements were highly based on such, but don't worry, I'll put disclaimers:

DISCLAIMER: Hitsuzen and the "you don't belong to yourself" – belongs to xxxHolic and the "feathers" – belongs to Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles: both are by CLAMP, the goddesses of manga.


	12. Back at Hogwarts

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A/N: Hm… the last chapter only had 2 reviews! Me is sad… Was the chapter really that crappy?

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**Chapter 12**

**Back At Hogwarts**

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Albus walked silently, pushing his trolley as the small family went towards the magical barrier towards the invisible Platform 9 ¾. His eyes darted to his brother, who had remained silent, not a single tease while they were in the dratted car; how his parents had not noticed it, Albus had no idea.

James had been acting odd for a month already, and Albus still couldn't figure out why he was like that. He tried asking, bribery (_Albus to authoress: It's not bribery! It's TRADE!_), and even extortion (_Albus to authoress: IT'S NOT EXTORTION!_), but his brother won't budge, and won't tell him what he was thinking.

It annoyed Albus.

It may seem odd, but Albus just wasn't used with James behaving like some kind of 'model student', because Albus knew his brother wasn't. It disturbed him, not because his brother might be up to something not exactly nice—well, he's got to admit that at least he had thought about it—but because his brother wasn't the person who was easily affected by things around him.

"You go on first." Albus looked back, it was James.

"Why?"

"I… uh… bathroom."

"…"

"What?! There's a public—"

Albus rolled his eyes, "I know. No need to tell me that, tell Dad and Mum."

"Tell them." James retorted.

"I'm not an owl." Albus replied plainly.

"I think I've heard that line before—"

"Why aren't you passing already? It's almost time!" Ginny hushed them, coming from behind, with Lilianne holding her hand. His father, however, was right behind them.

With a whoosh of air, Albus and James (as Albus presumed he was with him) rushed to the wall… Albus closed his eyes. He could feel the cold air whipping on his face. He was still running… running… Albus came to an abrupt stop.

He opened his eyes. He was already at the train station.

"See you around, Al." James waved off, pushing his trolley towards the scarlet train. Albus sighed.

"Hello, Albus Severus." Albus jumped. She blew air on his ear!

"Don't do that again, Diana!" Albus felt his face growing red, he immediately turned away from them.

A smirk greeted Albus as he looked back, "Getting jumpy now, are we?"

"Not really." Replied Albus annoyed, "But you do have a way of greeting me."

"Oooh, the Four-Eyed monster is angry!" Scorpius jeered on. Albus shook his head, some things just won't change.

"How was the rest of your vacation?" asked Diana. Her hair was now longer than last year and it was now tied in twin braids with twigs of mistletoes hanging from each end of the braid. "You're wearing Butterbeer cap earrings?"

"Nice, aren't they?" said Diana, twirling the accessory.

"Uh…"

"Any news from Rose?" Scorpius suddenly asked. He looked rather worried.

"Nope."

Scorpius gave him an incredulous look, "But you're cousins!"

"Did something happen?" asked Diana.

Albus shrugged, "I sent owls to her, but she never replied. I guess my Dad's got rift with Uncle Ron."

"Hm. Well, can't blame your Dad, though." Scorpius replied, "Your uncle was being an idiot."

"Everyone's an idiot sometimes." Diana piped.

"How about you? Were you able to contact her?" asked Albus. Scorpius shook his head, "If I was able to do that, I wouldn't have asked you in the first place, Albus." Albus raised a brow at Scorpius, who only made a face at him.

"Oh look, there she is!" Diana pointed at a bushy haired girl. She too was pushing her trolley, although her hand was held by a tall lanky man with flaming red hair. She looked at them, and quickly bowed her head; Uncle Ronald pulled Rose away from the three children, as if he did not want to associate with people _like them_.

"That was rude." Diana said offhandedly. Albus couldn't help but nod at her observation.

"As expected from an older Weasley." Said Scorpius, bitterness apparent in his voice. "C'mon, let's go inside. We might lose a seat if we don't hurry."

"Um." Albus and Diana nodded.

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Inside the train, Albus, Scorpius and Diana sat together in one compartment. They weren't able to talk to Rose, because her father was always there.

"What do you think your Uncle Ronald told your older brother, Albus?" Scorpius asked, his hand under his chin, looking outside the window.

Albus shrugged, "I dunno… but most probably he'll ask James to look after Rose so that she won't mingle with a Slytherin."

"Aa… most probably…" Scorpius frowned.

"Is Scorpius alright?" asked Diana, tilting her head to the side. "Is Scorpius sad because Rose isn't here?"

"WH-WHAT?!" Scorpius turned his head at her, "Hell no."

"Then why are you frowning?"

Scorpius stared at her. He placed his hand over her head, "Because Rose is such a hotheaded person that it's simply hilarious to see her fuss and wank over such little things. That's why."

"Oh…" Diana replied. She then went on to unrolling a newly printed copy o the Quibbler. Albus and Scorpius raised brows with each other, noting a rather eerie aura of happiness around Diana. She looked away from her reading and stared at Scorpius, "You know, I thought you liked being with Rose than being with me."

Scorpius gaped at her for a moment. He smiled and placed his left hand over her forehead, "Idiot."

Albus frowned.

**SLAM!**

The compartment's door flung open, crashing with its slide. A mop of bushy brown hair appeared in view: Rose Weasley looked around, sweating horribly. Her face looked all red and blotchy.

She bowed low.

"I'M-REALLY-SORRY-ABOUT-EARLIER!" she said in an indistinguishable high pitched voice.

"Eh?"

"EH?! _EH_?!" Rose exclaimed, "That's ALL you're going to say?!"

"What are we supposed to say?" Scorpius jeered, "_Welcome, Your Majestical Weaslified Perfection_?"

A fresh red throbbing vein popped on the back of Rose's head as she raised her closed fist. "D… darn… you!!!" she pointed her finger at Scorpius.

"She's mad." Diana covered her face with the tabloid, her eyes obviously showing that she was smiling. "Rose is mad."

"Ah…" Albus added with a smirk, "She's mad."

"Uh-huh." Scorpius added fuel to the fire, "Definitely barking mad."

Rose, however seemed to be serious and looked rather hurt. Her bright blue eyes shone with tears glassing. She was on the verge of tears. Albus frowned, they were just teasing her, and now she was about to cry! Albus looked at Scorpius and saw that he too was frowning.

"Don't take it too seriously, Rose." Albus said, standing up. Rose took a step back, as she frowned and tears dripped from her eyes.

"I… you… you guys are so mean…" Rose started to cry. She wiped her eyes, as though she wanted them dried up, but to no avail, as her eyes just seemed to continually produce salty tears.

"Hey… Rose, you don't…" Scorpius was entirely cut off by Rose bawling. She shouted, "AND I ACTUALLY HAD AN AGREEMENT WITH JAMES JUST TO BE HERE!" She ran to the door, slid it open and rushed outside. She didn't even close the door, nor take her stuff. Albus was rather… at loss, as he'd never seen Rose so weepy before.

"… I think we upset her." Diana said, rolling the paper and slipping it under her robes. She stood up, "I think I should go and apologize." She was frowning.

"No. You two stay here." It was Scorpius, he was already at the doorway. He looked even more upset. He sighed, "It was my fault, I started the tease." With a nod, Scorpius left.

"I see." Albus heard Diana say, taking out her rolled up Quibbler and started reading again.

"What?" he asked. Diana only shrugged and replied with a look that startled Albus, "It's a secret."

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It has already been a week since they bade bye-byes to their children, and almost two months since Alicia Spinnet was buried. Now, it was Dennis Creevey's funeral they were attending. Members of Dumbledore's Army, which was still going strong with more than 100 members and counting, had already paid their visits. Professors had come earlier, as they had to teach at Hogwarts. Harry sighed, wondering why so suddenly people were dying… surely it wasn't Voldemort.

If it was indeed him, Harry would be the first person to know.

Harry traced the lightning-shaped scar on his forehead, wondering whether he could still sense Voldemort…

"Harry…" a breathy voice entered his ears, making him jump slightly. "It's _me_."

Harry sighed, "Don't do that again, Hermione."

"Sorry," she whispered, sending shivers down his spine because of its breathiness, "I have to tell you something… Come with me." Hermione took his hand and dragged him away, while trying to keep other people from noticing. Harry's mind raced as he thought of excuses he'll tell Ron if he'd found him and Hermione walking like this, especially now that Ron and him…

"Oi! Where are you two going!?" Ron's loud voice suddenly raised the hairs on Harry's back. He and Hermione stopped at their tracks, and looked at each other, looking rather alarmed. Was Ron going to…?

"I… we…" Hermione started, but Ron cut her off.

"Why didn't you call me?" asked Ron, "What is it now? A murder, a—"

"You're not angry?" asked Hermione, a little surprised. Harry stared at Ron for any sign of irritation; instead, Ron gave Hermione a bewildered stare.

"Angry? For what? It's not like it's the first time you two are sneaking off, right?" said Ron, "It must be something like the Philosopher's stone, if you two are sneaking like that."

"You're not… jealous or anything?" asked Harry. "I mean, if it was Ginny…"

"If I was, but I'm not. So come on, what are we still waiting for?" exclaimed Ron, apparently excited about it. Harry and Hermione exchanged surprised looks.

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Harry, Hermione and Ron slipped together, away from the rest of the Weasleys. Just then Hermione realized something, she turned at Ron and exclaimed, "Hugo!"

"Have you lost your marbles?!" Ron gawked at her.

Hermione shook her head, "Hugo! Where is Hugo?!"

"He's with Mrs. Weasley." Said Harry, pointing to the small family of redheads walking together: Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, Lily and Hugo all together. "Don't worry, it's not like they'll notice." Murmured Harry.

"What if they do?" asked Ron, who kept on looking back.

"They will if you don't stop that, Ron." Hermione replied.

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"So, will you tell me why you two were stealing away?" asked Ron, as they walked briskly at London Underground, safely camouflaged with the rest of the Muggles.

Hermione replied, "It's not safe to talk about it yet…" she looked left and right, as if trying to spot something. Harry and Ron looked at each other, rather clueless at what Ron's wife was doing. "Found it!" she exclaimed, chipper.

"What?" Ron exclaimed. Hermione grabbed Ron's hand, as Ron grabbed for Harry's. Hermione ran to a small gap between two escalators.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" were the last words that Ron exclaimed just before Hermione looked back and smiled. And then she was gone, and for another split second, Harry could no longer see a trace of Ron's flaming red hair, and after the last second, Harry closed his eyes. He could still feel Ron's hand grabbing his…

Harry felt the wind whip his face… gravity was taking the better of him as he felt the ground dissolve from his feet… dissolve? There was no way in hell that the earth _will_ suddenly dissolve unless… He was falling.

"AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Harry flailed his arms wildly, as if trying to wave off invisible ropes. His mind was dizzy and everything was looking like lines… He was going _to die_ if this continued.

Harry felt his heart stop for a heartbeat when he felt his collar constricting his neck.

He really was going to die.

"Don't kill him, Ron!" He heard a voice say as he tried to catch his breath, his hand held his collar away from his neck since something-or someone-was holding the other end. One thing was good though: he was no longer falling.

Harry felt being carried by that something-or someone-onto something-or something. Despite the warmness of the 'something' that he landed on, Harry did not _dare_ open his eyes: he had a freaky feeling that he might see the devil when he opens his eyes.

"Afraid of heights, Potter?" the drawling voice of someone Harry knew mocked him.

Oh, damn. The devil himself had come to eat him alive.

"One more word from you, I'll shove this wand into your throat." Harry instantly recognized the voice as Ron's. Harry opened his eyes. He regretted doing such: Ron and Draco were on top the other, wrestling. Draco was on top Ron, who had his wand just before Draco's face. Harry did not know if he was going to laugh, be amazed, or was insane enough to join them.

"Why don't you just stop fighting?" it was Hermione, her hand was covering her face as if ashamed of something she was seeing. Beside her was the black haired 'wife' of Draco Malfoy, Stellar Morgana.

"Oh, I didn't notice you there, Harry Potter!" she squealed, clapping her hands together, acting like a fangirl. "Look, Luna, he's really here!"

'_Luna?_' Harry's head swiveled to Stellar's companion.

Luna Lovegood was sitting beside Draco's wife. She was wearing a silvery-looking dress, a single iris was behind her left ear (where her wand used to be tucked), her wide oddly misty eyes, and her long straggly dirty-blonde hair was tied in a half-pony tail (or at least that was what he assumed).

Harry's heart did a somersault. She really was here… here… Harry smiled at her, but instantly felt his fleeting happiness dissolve in the darkness as she laid her protuberant eyes at him with confusion.

"Hello, Harry Potter." She serenely said. Without feelings or any of the kind.

Harry Potter had just wished for instant death.

"Are you all right?" Harry looked up, and she was only inches away from him! Luna touched his forehead, "But you're not sick…"

"I… I'm… fi…ne…" Harry tried and fought hard just to say those words, as he felt his heart skip 45 beatings already. She was so close to him…

Luna smiled, "Well, that's wonderful."

Upon seeing Luna's carefree smile, Harry couldn't help but feel something in him die. He was happy to see her again, but was completely guilty that Luna could no longer remember him, nor Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, let alone Neville. And yet, somehow, seeing Luna happy like this, without knowing him, without remembering how much pain he'd inflicted to her… Harry felt that it was better this way.

"You're not getting any funny thought, are you, Potter?" the drawling voice of the devil renounced in Harry's head. He looked back, thankful, that Draco and Ron were no longer wrestling as they were two women apart.

"No." Harry replied.

"That's three letters off, idiot." Draco retorted, making Harry look at him in confusion. "Ah, forget it." (btw, Draco is not talking to Harry)

"Why—what—how—whe..?!" Harry exclaimed, as he looked at Hermione.

Hermione covered her mouth with her hand, "Oh! I'm sorry, Harry, Ron! I didn't have time to tell you about it… you see, we had so little time in our hands."

"What are you—", Harry said, but Hermione glared at him and her eyes darted to where Luna was sitting. "—oh…"

"Mrs. Malfoy—" Hermione mentioned her hand to where Stellar was sitting. Stellar blinked, "Oh, it's okay to call me Stellar."

"Don't talk when you're not being talked to, Stellar." Draco told her off, gaining a pout from his 'wife'. "Che."

"—the point is," Hermione continued, "… they want to help us."

"About?" Harry asked. Hermione face-palmed.

"Oh, yeah. What's all this about?"

Double face-palm for Hermione. "Why did you bring two morons with you?" asked Draco mockingly.

Hermione looked up at him, "I don't know. I really don't know."

"Wait… let's start with this…" sighed Ron, his brow twitched, "WHAT IS THIS THING WE'RE RIDING ON?!"

"Where are your manners, Ron?" Hermione snarled at him. Stellar noted, "Oh, now I know where Rose got her snarls." Hermione blushed and shrugged it off, "Ron, Harry, this is a flying… uh… well…"

"Looks like a giant bird to me…" Ron commented.

"Snorkack." Luna piped, her oddly misty eyes bulging with excitement, "It's a bit different from the Crumple-Horned Snorkack, but it still belongs with the Sanorcious family. It's one of the very few left!"

"And it flies, apparently." A whoosh of air escaped Hermione's lips, "Well, there. This is a flying Snorkack."

"So there really _is_ a Snorkack?" asked Ron.

Harry smiled, so Luna's father wasn't exactly making up stories about the Crumple-Horned Snorkack after all.

"Obviously." Draco said, his drawling voice seemed to irritate Ron, as Harry could see Ron's ears turn beet red.

"Since _when_ have you been talking to _him_?" Ron turned to Hermione, who blushed at Ron's gaze and looked away.

"Uh… well…"

"Aren't they friends from school?" asked Luna looking at Ron.

'_Friends?!_' Harry and Ron stared at each other, flabbergasted.

"Since when have you two been friends?!" Ron stood up, only to fall down.

"You shouldn't stand up, Aaliyah is irate of a blood—" Draco was cut off by Stellar.

"Draco." Stellar frowned.

Draco coughed and continued, "—someone like you."

Stellar rolled her eyes, "Don't mind him, he's the one who's irate since we were supposed to be in vacation. Anyway, Aaliyah doesn't like people on her back, not to mention that it is a bit rocky."

"You still didn't answer my question." Ron stared at Hermione.

"Well… actually, after Draco's father got… uh… convicted, you know." Hermione took a handkerchief and started to wipe the nonexistent sweat on her face.

'Liar.' Harry stared at Hermione, who caught his eyes and quickly looked away.

Hermione coughed, "Anyway, it's not important—"

"IT IS! What if… if…" the red on Ron's ears had reached his face, which now clashed horribly with his already flaming hair.

"Then that'll be wonderful." Stellar chirped, gaining a horrified look from both Draco and Hermione, who had just lost her just-gained composure.

"That's _not_ the point." Hermione coughed again, "What's important is why we're here. And I bet my _Hogwarts, A History_ book that you-" she pointed at Ron, "-don't know why we're here."

"…" Harry didn't exactly know _why_, but he felt that it might have something to do about Luna, as she is with Stellar and _Draco_.

"Aaliyah is descending." Said Luna, holding on to a feather. "You should hold on to here."

Harry immediately grabbed one; Ron however didn't seem to be listening, and did not take one, only to be forced by Hermione to seize one on his hand. She too was holding a feather. Draco was lazily holding one, he was beside Stellar. Harry could see Draco hold Stellar's hand, and Ron was holding Hermione's hand too; with this, he looked at Luna, and frowned.

He'd die happily if Luna held his hand and tell him that she had already forgiven him. But it was all wishful thinking… Harry looked away from her. Harry felt that he wasn't good enough of a person even to look at Luna, who had done so much for him, and yet, all he did to her was to hurt her heart…

He felt a warm hand take hold of his own, he looked up.

"Hold my hand; it will be a rough ride descending." It was Luna, and she was smiling at him. A smile that Harry knew he did not deserve.

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Autumn leaves fell graciously at the grounds, and the air was crisp and dry. Brooms whizzed through the air, Albus watched his brother's team and the Slytherin team as they played a practice game of Quidditch. His brilliant green eyes, which was said to be as his father's, darted from left to right as he tried to watch the brooms zoom through the air. Scorpius was playing as Keeper for Slytherin, as he refused to be a Seeker.

"Hiya." Albus looked up, it was Rose. She held a book with her.

"Oh, hi Rose. Watching the game?" asked Albus. Rose shook her head, "No. I couldn't find Diana. I thought she was with you, so I came here."

"Aa…" Albus muttered and went back into watching the game.

"Could I sit beside you?" asked Rose. "I… I couldn't read… uhm… peacefully in the library."

Albus nodded.

Ten minutes had already passed since Rose sat down with Albus. Not that Albus minded, as he was busy watching the game, and in his mind, he was commentating about how the Gryffindor Chaser stole the Quaffle from a Slytherin Chaser, then Scorpius saved the ball, and he got hit by a bludger… okay, so that didn't happen, but it was fun making up things in his mind.

One thing though.

Rose hadn't been reading the book she had with her; instead, she was gazing at the pitch, her eyes swiveling with the brooms that zoomed past them.

"I thought you don't like Quidditch?" asked Albus. Rose's shoulders jerked up.

"Ah… I… no… it's… it's not… it's not like that…" she blushed heavily, looking down at the book on her lap. "I… I… I didn't… it's…"

"If you're not okay talking about it, fine then, I'm not going to force you or anything." Albus replied.

"Uh… thanks…" Rose smiled weakly.

"No problem."

Albus and Rose continued to watch the brooms rocket up and down, left and right, around and around.

"It's nice, isn't it?" asked Rose.

"Hn?"

"I… I mean, Quidditch. It's nice." Muttered Rose, looking down at the book. She opened it, and started to read its contents. Occasionally, Rose would look at the pitch, then immediately looked back at the pages of the paper.

Albus, bored with the game, glanced at the book instead; it was full of indecipherable runes!

"What… can you understand these?!"

"Huh?" Rose gave him a confused look. Albus pointed at the book she was holding, "Oh, this? It's Professor Flitwick's, I know he's not the Ancient Runes professor, but dwarven runes are very interesting… want to have a look?"

"Hey, thanks." Albus replied.

Albus proceeded on flipping the pages of the book. It was full of letters (at least that was what he thought they were) that Albus only stared at; however, Albus suddenly felt a surge of excitement when he found the meanings of the runes rather interesting. What struck him most was the rune, which meant _eihwaz_, which roughly meant '_yew tree_'.

"This is a cool book, Rose. Could I borrow it?" asked Albus.

Rose blinked, "Since when have you been interested in runes?"

"… I dunno. I just, well, suddenly felt like it." Albus shrugged.

"If you really want to, it's fine. I've already finished that book anyway."

"Thanks!"

"No problem." Rose replied, her eyes still focused on the game.

"Hey, Rose… I'll go now," Albus said, his sudden excitement in scanning the rune book was present in his voice. "Uh… just tell Scorpius that I went ahead, okay?"

"Oh, yeah, sure." Rose looked at him oddly. "I'll tell him."

"Thanks!" replied Albus happily, as he stood up. He suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. "H-hey, Rose… did you…"

"Shh…" she hushed him, Albus could see a bead of sweat rolling down on Rose's face. She mouthed, "S-sit down… D-don't look… p-pretend… y-you didn't see anything…"

In the corner of his eye, he though he saw someone watching them. The shadow glided nearer, but did not approach them. Cold breath whispered on his ear. Albus dropped the runes book.

"… s-stop…" Albus could not understand a bit of what it was saying, but he his heart constricted heavily, the atmosphere was tensing his heart. It was not a good thing. He felt like there was a skeletal cold hand gripping his fleshed heart inside his chest, preventing it to beat. Albus inhaled sharply and gasped for air. He opened his mouth to catch his fading breath but it was in vain.

"A…a…" in the corner of his eye, Albus saw Rose placing her hand before her chest. She leaned forward.

Albus kicked hard, squirming. A second later, the shadows left them.

"Ha… ha…" Albus and Rose coughed and coughed. The runes book lay on the grass, kicked a little away by Albus.

"Wha… what was that?" Albus managed to breathe out.

Rose gasped for breath, "I… I have… no… idea…"

Albus placed his hand on the side of his neck. It felt wet.

"B-blood…" Rose exclaimed as she looked at her own hands. "Wha… what happ… happened?!"

Albus' mind and heart were racing. He dared to believe but…

"It... it must've been… it must've been those shadows…" he gulped, "It was those… things… it must've been them."

"B-but why?" Rose was on the verge of tears. "We… we didn't do anything wrong!"

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A/N: OMG. I know, I'm getting cornier and cornier at every chapter that I am posting. I guess I'm just that of a bad writer, making bad, corny, shabby and sappy lines; the shoujo manga reader in me had just emerged. Not to mention I had been reading too much Vampire Knight, Bitter Virgin, Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge, xxxHolic, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, Bleach, Detective Conan, Naruto lately… (sighs) DISCLAIMER: I do not own HP nor any of its characters... just in case...

Aaliyah: Ascender

**Albus:** brilliant green eyes, jet black hair

**Diana:** pale eyes, straggly dirty blonde hair

**Rose:** bright blue eyes, bushy brown hair

**Scorpius:** gray eyes, white blonde hair

**James: **dark brown hair, blue eyes

**Lilianne:** flaming red hair, brown eyes

**Hugo:** flaming red hair, brown eyes

**Lyra:** white blonde hair, bright blue eyes


	13. Diana's Detention

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A/N: Jeez, I know I'm getting slow! It's kind of hard to write when you have author's block, really!

**RobotMk3:** Thank you for your PM! (hugs)

WARNING: VERY MINOR CHARACTER DEATH COMING

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**Chapter 13**

**Diana's Detention**

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The flying Snorkack seemed to land on a field of dead cosmos flowers; it stunk of rotting meat and fungus, the dead flowers were being eaten by molds, the trees were barren and dried. Not a single sign of the living balanced the creeping symbols of death and suffering.

Draco was the first one to jump off Aaliyah. He brandished his wand out and pointed at his feet: molds were already climbing on his shined black shoes.

"Aduro." A red light erupted from Draco's wand and engulfed the mold. Draco's eyes narrowed. "Spread." The red light did as Draco ordered it, and now, the spot where Draco was standing on, was now illuminated with red light, and the mold did not seem to want to go near it.

"What just happened?!" Harry heard Ron exclaim. He too wanted to know what was happening.

"Those are Roftang fungus." Luna said solemnly, "They're not to be taken lightly, as they eat any living creatures in their presence."

"It was a good thing that Luna had researched about them during her trip around the world." Stellar commented, "If it wasn't for her notes, then we wouldn't have known that she had experimented on spells—"

"Luna experimented spells?!" Harry whipped his head to Stellar, "She did what?!"

"Don't be angry!" Stellar looked taken aback. Draco shouted from the ground, "Don't you dare shout at my wife again, Potter, or I'm going to make sure these fungus will eat you alive!"

"Draco… you meanie." Muttered Stellar. She took a deep breath and said, "We'll be going down, please cast another spot, Draco."

"Whatever." Harry heard Draco reply.

"Wait! You didn't answer—" Harry tried to call Stellar's attention, but she seemed focused in ignoring him. Before Harry could say anything, Hermione caught his wrist and shook her head.

"I think… she has reasons not to say anything, Harry…" she sighed. They heard Draco call Hermione's name, and she replied saying that she will be coming. Hermione nodded at Harry, whose wrist had been already let go.

"You're not holding hands too much, are you?" Ron cast a quick glare at Harry, who raised a brow at him. Hermione called Ron's name, and he quickly went off.

The only people who were on Aaliyah were Harry and Luna.

"… why…"

"Aren't I still going down?" asked Luna, as if reading Harry's mind. Harry nodded. She smiled at him and replied, "Well, I was the one who called Aaliyah, so I must be the last one to go down so that I could summon her back from where she came from."

"This thing… isn't from here?"

"Oh, goodness, no. Aaliyah came from the Forest of Meer." She replied.

"HEY! HARRY!" Ron's voice called.

"Ronald's calling you." Luna pointed out. Harry nodded, and then quickly replied, "You remembered Ron?!"

"Oh. Why yes… he was with you and Hermione when you went to the Wiltshire Manor, wasn't he?"

Harry became rather crestfallen, "Oh, I see." He thought Luna was already regaining her memories. "Well… I… gotta go down then…"

"See you." She smiled cheerfully at him. Harry looked away, unable to bear that she was smiling at him.

Harry slid from the giant 'chicken-looking' Snorkack's back and landed on the floor. He heard Draco say "Aduro"; Harry looked away from them, feeling a little… odd.

"… _anima_… copper… _vita_… silver… _esse_…" Harry whirled his head: Stellar was making odd circles on the dead-flowers covered ground.

"… _facio_." The distinct tone of Luna's voice was the last thing that Harry heard before a bright light escaped from the circles that Stellar made. The Snorkack's lines were fading, and Luna seemed to float on the air, like a solid ghost. Harry noticed the growing pile of flesh-eating mold right under where Luna was suspended. A second later, there was no line left, and Luna was about to fall to the vicious molds.

"Luna!" Harry exclaimed, leaving the red-illuminated circle, and jumping to where Luna was going to fall. If he missed catching Luna, she might die. She might die… Harry couldn't let that happen. He had hurt her too much that if she died without him doing anything…

"IDIOT!" he heard Draco shout.

"Harry! What are you doing?!" Luna gave him a surprised look, as if he had done something she did not expect.

Not that he cared, he had caught Luna. He caught her, she wasn't going to die.

But he was. The molds had started to climb his back, and were biting him horribly. It was painful. Harry cursed that he could not take his wand from his back…

"ADURO!" Luna exclaimed, and as what happened to the molds that tried to eat Draco's shoes, the molds ran away from where Luna and Harry were; Harry gave a relieved sigh.

"Why did you do that?" he heard Luna ask, making him look up. Luna was on top of Harry, her hair disheveled. "Why did you do that?" she asked again.

"I…"

"Harry… please don't think that I don't know what I'm doing." Luna said calmly, "I do not go to a war unprepared."

Harry looked away from her in embarrassment: he thought she would thank him for saving her, but it seemed that his act had backfired. She must have stood up already, as the weight on his stomach lightened.

"I… I'm sorry." He managed to say.

"I'm not angry." She replied. Harry looked up to her, "It was really stupid, but don't think I did not appreciate it. Thank you."

Harry felt his heart lighten too at her words. She held out her hand, "Let's go."

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"Where are we going to?" asked Ron, "We've been walking in this dead forest for hours already!"

"Stop whining, Ron!"

"I'm not whining!" Ron's ears were starting to grow red, "I was just pointing it out."

"Lovers' quarrel?" Stellar butted in, gaining a glare at Ron.

"Get out of our business, Malfoy." He leered.

Stellar pouted, "Technically, I'm not a Malfoy, as we were never married. Whatever." She strode past Ron. Harry heard her whisper to Hermione, "I don't like your husband. How can you stand him?"

"The same reason as why you could stand Draco." Hermione simply replied. Stellar looked at her in surprise and smiled.

"Men." They both said.

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After what seemed to be hours of walking and trudging, Harry and the rest, their wands out, had arrived at a shabby looking house, just some meters from the mouth of the moth-eaten forest. It seemed like no one had been living in the house.

"Where are we exactly?" asked Harry. He wondered if they were going to a Godric's Hollow once again.

Stellar replied, "This is a famous alchemist's house… Basil Valentine…"

"Basil Valentine?" Hermione stared at Stellar, "He's an alchemist?! Wasn't he a monk?"

"A Benedictine monk, precisely." Luna replied knowingly, "But that did not keep him from being an alchemist. He's actually quite known."

"Whatever he was, why are we here?" asked Ron. Draco raised a brow at him, "So you went here with no idea whatsoever of what we're doing here?"

"What?" Ron glared at Draco.

"Ron—" Hermione said.

"Draco—" Stellar piped.

In unison, Hermione and Stellar retorted, "Shut up."

And the two did.

"You two should go form an organization…" Luna smiled, "Organization of Shutting Up Overreacting Spouses…"

"Oh don't, we might really do that…" Hermione kept a laugh. Stellar giggled, "…"

"So are we going in now?" asked Harry, as he was about to touch the ivy-covered gates surrounding the shabby house.

"Harry." Luna said serenely, grabbing Harry's hand. Harry felt warmth spreading on his face, "Don't touch it, it might be poisoned."

"Ah…" Harry replied, taking off his hand from her grasp.

"Let me do it then." Ron said darkly, before Draco could raise his wand. Draco rolled his eyes, "As you wish, your Weasel."

Ron glared maliciously at Draco before turning to Hermione, "What's the spell?"

Hermione raised a brow at him, "Excuse me, Ron, but I'm _not_ your secretary." Ron glared at her, she shrugged, "Besides, I _don't_ know whatever spell should be used… I've never been here before."

Ron looked disappointed, and lowered his wand. Draco, on the other hand, looked triumphant.

"I'll do it, then." Stellar jumped. She waved her wand and pointed at the gate, "_Defungo_."

The ivies parted ever so slowly, and reformed, and parted again, until a keyhole-like shape formed.

"There's a knocker here too…" Harry muttered, looking at the enchanted gate.

Ron studied the gate without touching it, "Well… if there's a keyhole… where's the key?"

"At last, you've finally made a good question." Draco replied scathingly; Harry wasn't sure though, whether it was sincere or sarcastic, as it was weird either way.

"Alohamora, anyone?" Hermione said. She swished and flicked her wand, and chanted the spell.

It worked.

"Hermione is cool." Stellar exclaimed happily, as she entered the now exposed yard; Draco who seemed like he was getting headache closely followed her. Luna smiled happily and skipped upon entering, and just before Harry go after Luna, he heard Ron whisper, "If I knew—"

"If you remembered, actually." Hermione immediately corrected him.

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Upon the entering, Harry and the others were in a tunnel like place, different from the scenery outside the fence. It was dark, damp and chilly. Cobwebs and spiders, much to Ron's distaste (and displeasure), flocked the path. The floor was incredibly wet, and Harry had a feeling that somewhere in the tunnel, they had to swim. Although he strongly wished that they wouldn't have to.

"At least we're sure there's no basilisk here." Hermione said as they trudged on, walking on the slippery floor.

"Basilisk?"

"Yeah… the spiders didn't leave their home, isn't it?" Hermione pointed at the cobwebs, "The spiders are the natural enemy of the basilisk, so it'll be obvious if there is one." She waved off a cobweb that got stuck on her hair. "What are you still doing there?"

They walked and walked, and the room got darker and darker, and they were slowly sinking into the murky waters of the tunnel. They had their wands out already, each stick had light on the tips.

"I don't like this…" breathed Stellar. She had one arm before her chest, with her left hand holding the wand. She was shivering. Draco sighed and pulled off his cloak.

"You shouldn't have come." He told her as he draped the cloak over her shoulder.

"It's going to be wet." Stellar replied hastily.

"I have lots of coats at home. I'll be fine." He retorted.

Harry and the other watched as the two call on each other; Harry tried to look away, but their childish acts were eye-catching. Ron and Hermione gaped at them, while Luna seemed to be lost in her own world.

_Sswwsshhhh…_

"What's that?" asked Hermione.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Ron answered back at her. Draco and Stellar stopped on their tracks, while Luna was pulling things in the corner. There was a low rumbling sound. Hermione placed her finger before her lips, as if trying to listen to the rumbling sound.

_SWSH_.

It was getting louder.

_SWWWWSHHHHHHHHH…_

"What… is that?" Harry asked.

No one didn't need to reply though, as his question was immediately met by an answer.

A large wave crashed on the wall just some meters before Harry and the others.

"RUN!" Ron shouted.

"GRAB TO ANYONE!" Draco exclaimed, as he and Stellar were the first ones eaten up by the large wave. Ron ran and enclosed Hermione's hand in his just before they were washed away; Harry's eyes widened as he only watched the wave almost smack to him. Almost.

Just before the wave touch him, someone pulled him into a secret place, as Harry would dub it.

"_Lumos._" He heard her whisper, and a single flickering light shone in the darkness. Luna's pale and misty eyes jumped from the pitch back. "I'm sorry, my magic had been really going bad these days…"

"No…" Harry muttered.

"Yes? You were saying something?" Luna tilted her head.

In Harry's head, he knew what was that he exactly wanted to tell her. '_You… you shouldn't be the one apologizing._' However, his lips won't move, as his will to talk had been flickering like a single candle in a windy atmosphere.

"I…"

"?"

"Forget it." Harry looked away. Luna replied, "Well, I can't forget it, as I know that you wanted to tell me something… did you forget about it?"

"No…" he replied, "I… I just… I just can't tell right now."

"It's okay if you don't tell it to me immediately. I can wait." She responded, and then there were silence. None of the two dared to speak, and they were only before each other, breathing, listening to the rattled breaths they had.

Luna shook her head, "We should go look for them."

"That would be the most splendid idea, if we knew the exit." Harry retorted. Luna looked up to him, "Of course we will look for it too."

Luna stood up and tucked the lit wand on the back of her left ear. She was using it the way a head light was used. There was a shelf of books, a study table, a chair; Luna continued on looking. Harry too started his search: he didn't want to die there. Even more shelves occupied the room, which were rammed with books and monographs and papers.

"This place… is a library, isn't it?" said Harry. Luna nodded as she began scanning some books.

"A very old one then." Luna replied.

"Ancient, must be."

Harry swiped a finger on the dusty table and looked at his dirty finger. He winced.

"Found anything there, Harry?" asked the cheerful voice that belonged to Luna. Her tone was quite out of place in a room like what they were in currently; then again, Luna never fit into any kind of situation without standing out.

"…" Hearing Luna's voice calmed his stirring soul. "It's…" Harry found an odd-looking quill, "… just a quill."

Somehow, Harry was drawn to the quill. It was an oddly colored one.

"I'm not stealing this… I'm only borrowing…" Harry muttered under his breath as he stuffed the quill inside his cloak.

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Humid atmosphere crept on the walls of Hogwarts as another storm ravaged the grounds. Students weren't allowed to leave the castle without permission, and Aurors were rumored to be sighted roaming near Hogsmeade. Students whispered excitedly of made-up and not-so-fictional theories they had in mind of what was happening. Albus Severus Potter, however, was not interested in that.

Albus touched his neck. He could still remember the cold rattling breath of that thing that almost made him faint.

"Hey!" Albus whirled around. It was Scorpius, "What are you doing there?"

"Ah… it's nothing." Albus looked away. He had no intention of telling what happened to this person. "I… just wanted to take a walk, that's all."

"Take a walk in the middle of the feast?" Scorpius raised a brow. "It's Halloween tonight, so don't make excuses."

"I-it's none of your business." Albus replied. He wasn't crazy much to get Scorpius and Diana into the mess that him and his cousin got into, if it was a mess.

Scorpius rolled his eyes, "If it's about what happened in the pitch—" Albus felt a shiver run down his spine, as if he was being watched.

Did Scorpius feel it too…?

Albus looked up at Scorpius, who didn't seem to be very much bothered, "—sorry we hit you with the Quaffle."

Albus stopped. He felt relieved for some unknown reason.

"You hit me?"

"Oh wait. Was it you or was it _Jamie_?"

"Stop calling my brother 'Jamie'. We don't have the same color of hair, Scorpius. There's no way in hell you'll interchange me and James." Albus replied hotly, dropping the fact that he was worried about his fellow Slytherin.

"Just kidding." Scorpius shrugged, "You don't have to be so stingy about it."

"He's _my_ brother, Scorpius."

"Whatever." Scorpius placed his hands inside the pockets of his pants. He looked like he was about to leave when he turned his head to Albus, "Oh, did you know why Diana was put to detention?"

"Detention?" Albus was surprised, obviously, as Diana didn't seem to be the type who would be put to detention, "What happened?"

"You didn't know about it then?" Scorpius blinked. "I… Rose and I were wondering… well, just this afternoon, before the feast, Diana was called to the Headmistress' office. She said that she got detention. Never told us why though." He continued, "We thought she'd have told you about it."

"No… nobody told me anything." Albus' mind was racing. There was no reason for Diana to be put to detention, as far as he knew: she wasn't the type who would sneak out at night, neither was she an extreme prankster. "Do you know why? Did she tell you?"

"I told you, she never told us why." Scorpius frowned, "…"

"Oh, why are you not in the feast?" a jubilant voice exclaimed. The two Slytherins turned.

It was Professor Flitwick.

"Oh, Professor… sorry, I…" Albus fumbled for explanation.

"Albus felt sick, Professor." Scorpius said, without hesitation. "I was about to accompany him to the hospital wing."

"Well, well! That's too bad since the Halloween feast is marvelous!" the little Charms professor squealed.

Albus then remembered something, "Professor… you're the… Head of Ravenclaw, right?"

"Hm? Why of course!"

"Well… we were wondering…" Albus looked at Scorpius, who nodded. "About Miss Lovegood…"

"You are friends with Miss Lovegood, am I right?"

Albus and Scorpius looked at each other; they nodded.

"I see…"

"Professor," Albus spoke, "… uh… why… how did Diana Lovegood get detention?"

"Didn't she tell you?" asked Professor Flitwick.

"No, Professor." Scorpius replied.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot tell you about it." The professor replied meekly.

"Professor, please… we're her friends, the least we could do is talk to her about it…" Albus pleaded.

"Well, you are Harry Potter's son—", Albus flinched, "—well, Madam Pince caught her stealing a book in the Restricted Section of the library."

"She what?!" Scorpius exclaimed, startling the professor. Albus glared at him. Scorpius cleared his throat, "I'm sorry, Professor Flitwick… but was she really the one who did it? Wasn't she under some kind of spell or something?"

"I'm sorry, but we are certain that she wasn't in anyway hoodwinked. Especially after she confessed about it."

"No way." Albus' eyes widened.

"But that is really it. Ah, I have to go to the feast now, Headmistress McGonagall might be waiting." Professor Flitwick replied. Albus and Scorpius watched as the old wizard went to the Great Hall.

"Damn." Scorpius covered his face with his palm. Albus looked questioningly at him, "I forgot to ask him where Diana is!"

Albus continued at staring at his friend, "Why?"

"Diana… well, after we found out that she had detention, she sort of… well, we haven't contacted her since this morning."

"What?!"

"Rose and I—" Scorpius found the hem of his shirt interesting for a while, "—asked the Ravenclaw prefect earlier… she told us that Diana's in detention…"

"Ah… I see…" Albus looked away. A streak of black caught his eye, but when he blinked, it was gone. "Huh?"

"What?" Scorpius had already started walking. "Aren't we going to the hospital wing? You know, just in case Professor Flitwick decided to ask Madam Pomfrey… are you listening? What are you looking at?"

"I… nothing." Albus lied as he caught up with Scorpius. Before rounding on the corner, he looked back, wishing that he hadn't seen anything at all.

The memory of shadows came rushing back into his mind.

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_Clink._

_Clink._

_Clink._

The sounds of glassed goblets tinkering caught Harry's sensitized ears; he was vaguely sure that it was Luna, probably searching the glass beakers and flasks. He too was still searching for an alternate exit, as they could hear the crashing of waves through the thick ancient wall.

Harry leaned on the wall and threw back his head slowly.

'_Are they looking for us? They better do…_' he thought. He heard footsteps coming his way.

"I wonder how the others are doing." He heard Luna say, a hint of worry in her voice. "The wave was too fast, the impact must've been huge…"

Harry mentally cursed his self. Here he was moaning if the others were searching for the two of them when they were the ones hit and separated. What was more embarrassing was that Luna, who was supposed to have lost her memories, seemed to care about Ron and Hermione more than him, who had always been with them. He felt like a total jerk.

"They'll be fine." Harry looked up, closing his eyes. '_They should be… or I can't forgive myself for dragging them into my problem again…_'

He felt a warm hand hold his own.

"Are you worried about something?" Luna's voice seemed concerned.

"Yes." Harry answered her honestly; it was the only thing he knew he could give her. He smiled at her; he raised his hand that she held and touched Luna's cheek. She winced, but Harry understood.

Luna might've lost her memories, but her feelings probably hadn't changed. She was still hurt.

"I'm sorry." Harry pulled his hand away and placed it inside the pocket of his cloak.

Luna suddenly replied in such serenity that Harry couldn't comprehend what she meant by it, "I'm sorry too, Harry, I couldn't do anything."

"What?" Harry gave her a confused look. Luna gave him an equally puzzled stare, "Why?"

Harry furrowed his brows, "I—I'm going to check the next shelf." He turned around quickly and cursed mentally. He was certainly growing crazy in every moment that Luna was with him.

He's just wasn't sure if it's good or bad or both.

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Albus couldn't sleep. He wasn't an insomniac, nor restive, and yet, sleep just won't come. Whenever he closed his eyes, all he could see was the darkness that was threatening to engulf him alive.

It scared him.

Tossing left and right, Albus stared at the green flames on the torch, just some meters away from his bedpost.

'_Does Rose get these goosebumps like I do?_' he wondered vaguely.

Albus pulled the covers of his blanket over his face, trying not to listen to the voices that resounded in his ears saying:

'_Die. Die. Die. Die_…"

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'_Today is the last of Diana's detention._' Thought Albus, as he dressed up for his first class. Despite sleeping for only two hours, oddly, Albus felt revitalized and fully charged. He felt like something great had happened. He grabbed his glasses and wore them.

"Oh… you're up." Scorpius said, rather lazily. He too was already dressed, although his back was facing Albus.

"Yeah. I—WHOA!" Albus gawked at his friend, wide-eyed.

Scorpius was sporting eye bags. Eye bags. Scorpius. Scorpius plus eye bags… the memory was too much.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!" Albus doubled on his knees as he pointed at Scorpius' face. A throbbing vein appeared on the back of Scorpius' head, although Albus paid no attention to it.

"Shut up." Scorpius replied sluggishly. "We're going to be late, potato couch."

Even though they were already walking towards the door, Albus just couldn't stop laughing, so when the door suddenly opened, he had no time to evade the unexpected whipping of the door and had hit him squarely on the face.

"Serves you right." Scorpius slothfully said. He turned to their fellow Slytherin, who was sweating horribly and had a look of shock. "What happened to _you_?"

"Professor—dead—suddenly—no—professors…" the young Slytherin breathed.

"What?" asked Albus, who had recovered from the injury and was rubbing the tip of his nose. Scorpius raised a brow, "Breathe, then tell us."

The boy nodded and did as Scorpius said. When he had gathered enough oxygen for his body, he started, "Professor Flitwick—"

"What about him?" Albus and Scorpius looked at each other.

"Professor Flitwick suddenly dropped dead in his Charms class just now!" the boy exclaimed, startling the two boys.

Albus felt a prick on his nape and looked back.

On the window, for an infinitesimal second, he saw a big black _thing_. It wasn't a dementor.

It was the_ shadow, _the dark figure that had tried to kill him and Rose… and it was _smiling_.

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A/N: _"I'm sorry." Harry pulled his hand away and placed it inside the pocket of his cloak. _– I know you might be saying 'but cloaks DON'T have pockets!', in my fanfiction, they DO. Thanks. 3D

A/N: I know I got Flitwick wrong, I'm not attached too much to him so I really don't know how to write his character. Sorry Flitwick fans! (sob sob sob)


	14. Die

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A/N: **EDITED VERSION!!! **Actually, I uploaded the wrong chapter. This is the real one. Sorry. ;;

Here's the fourteenth chapter, and it's kind of short unlike the previous ones.

Thanks to **RobotMk3** for the advice, it's very much appreciated (There's a scene here that I want you to read, please PM me of what you think about it.).

Thanks to those who are still reading **Darkness Rising**, you're making my heart flutter, and to those who are not-so-busy enough to press the review button down the page, I thank you from the bottom of my drunken heart (although I do not drink alcoholic drinks).

Kisses and hugs to all!

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**Chapter 14**

'_**Die.**_**'**

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"This is a critical moment for us," the current Headmistress of Hogwarts announced, ", we need your cooperation."

Rumors spread like wild fire in the school grounds of dark thieves, dark lords, and dark magic; students could no longer roam freely in the school by themselves. It was good that Albus, Diana, Scorpius and Rose would go together whenever they hang out, or none of them could go outside in the beautiful sunny Sunday morning…

"Miss Lovegood!" Professor Longbottom called out.

Albus, Rose, Scorpius and Diana stopped. The round yet handsome face of their Herbology professor came in view; he was holding a large pot of purple wisterias.

"Oh…" Diana said, turning around, "Good morning, Professor."

"Good morning, professor." The three added. Professor Longbottom nodded at them; he turned to the young Ravenclaw.

"Is there anything you want, Professor?" asked Diana, her voice rather distant. Professor Longbottom looked at her with furrowed brows.

"Oh, I… nothing important, but…" he looked away; he took a piece of envelope from his cloak and gave it to Diana, "… could you give this to your mother?"

"My… mother?" she gazed at the professor with questioning eyes, "Why?"

Albus looked at Diana in wonder. Her tone wasn't asking. It was demanding for an answer.

"I… a concerned friend of mine wanted to give her this, but they haven't been in contact with each other for years." Professor Longbottom smiled at the girl, "It would be nice of you, Miss Lovegood, to bring it to your mother. She'll be delighted."

"…" Albus watched as Diana nodded slightly; she placed the letter in the pockets of her cloak. She had a blank expression on her face.

"Well… um… Thank you, Miss Lovegood!" Professor Longbottom waved at them; the wisteria waved too. The professor went back to the green house.

Albus saw on the corner of his eyes that Scorpius was looking at Diana; "Hey, Diana… what do you think is in the letter?" Scorpius asked.

"I don't know." Diana replied plainly, her usual cheerful tone turned into a monotonous boredom.

"… don't you want, you know, take a peek?" Scorpius grinned. Rose hit him on the back of his head, "Shut up! Teaching Diana to read somebody else's letters! What's wrong with you?"

Albus grinned, "That means he is normal."

Scorpius' jaws dropped at his friend's comment while Rose giggled uncontrollably. Albus cannot help but notice that Diana seemed to be lost in thought.

"What…" Albus saw Diana bite her finger. "… forget it."

"Is there something bothering you?" Scorpius' voice seemed to have surprised Diana, as she gasped when he touched her shoulder.

"Scorpius… I…" she looked sadly at him.

Albus felt a sickening sensation in his stomach as he watched them: it was like watching his most hated character hitting on his favorite female character. Rose's expression was worse: she paled at the sight.

'_God… they look perfect together._' Albus thought, as he silently watched the two blonde-haired people together, '_And they're not even doing anything…_'

"Rose…" Diana turned to Rose, looking worried, "… do you… do you still have that book?"

Rose snapped from her reverie, "Huh? What book?"

"The Ancient Runes book you borrowed from Professor Flitwick?"

"Oh, yeah. I still have it, do you want—"

"NO!" Diana exclaimed, causing the other three to stare at her in bewilderment. Albus had never seen Diana scream like that. Diana looked at the ground, "Sorry… I… the book… please return it to his things, Professor McGonagall said… I'm sorry… please excuse me." She bowed a little and ran off. Albus caught a glimpse of her face before she left.

Never in his life did he want to see her pale misty eyes sadden so much.

"Diana… she's acting weird." Rose commented, looking rather worried. She turned to the two, "I should talk to her, you two—"

"No!" Scorpius caught her hand, "Don't." Rose raised a brow at him.

"Do you want me to just sit here, do nothing and pretend everything's okay?"

"No, I didn't say anything like that." Scorpius looked slightly offended, "_I'm_ going to talk to her."

"Why can't it be _me_?" Rose's expression hardened. "I'm _her_ friend too!"

"Just _because_." Scorpius replied, before he left, following Diana.

Rose crossed her arms, her brows were furrowed to the point that they seemed to be connected. She sat grudgingly on the grassiest area, took a book from her bag and flipped its pages forcefully that some pages were torn.

'_Crazy._' Albus commented, although he knew very well that it was an observation never to be told.

He sat beside her, watching the giant squid appear, disappear and only to reappear once more from the waters of the lake. Every once in a while, he would look at Rose, looking for a timing to talk to her.

Rose's expression softened eventually, she gave a faint smile. This confused Albus, but only for a few seconds.

"Al…" she curled her lower limbs before her, "… Scorpius and Diana… I wonder… they seem to be extremely close…"

"Ah." Albus grunted in affirmation.

"I… am I…" she cut off her words.

"What?" Albus asked.

"It's nothing." She hastily replied. "I think…"

"… you're about to ask something about the two of them?" asked Albus, although it was more of a statement than a question. Rose nodded in affirmation. She was probably at lost for words.

"Aren't… aren't you jealous?" she asked. Albus felt like his world stopped, he gave her a staggered look.

"What?"

Rose sighed, "I'm not talking romantically or anything…" she pouted, "I… I'm talking about their relationship outside our friendship…" she was tracing the sand with her finger, "… it seems like, no matter how I try, I just can't be close to the both of them…" she burrowed her face on her cloak.

"Ah… I understand what you're talking about." Albus replied, "Most especially whenever they talk of things we don't understand, and they do."

"…"

"Feels left out or something, I guess." Albus pulled his head back, the leaves blocking the direct light from the sky.

"Am I stupid for thinking like this?" asked Rose, she buried her face .

"…" Albus remained silent.

"… Al?"

"I don't know, sorry." Albus replied. He stood up, and walked away from Rose. He felt a squirming distress churning in his stomach as he left, wondering whether it was the right thing to do… he felt like he was escaping a question that needed to be answered.

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"_Inflamari_." A blue ember ignited from Luna's wand, however, it fizzled out immediately like a flame opened outside on a rainy day. Luna looked rather frustrated despite her calm features: Harry could see her pale brows furrow as she tried the spell once more.

"Luna, I told you, just let me do it." Harry pleaded, but Luna didn't listen. She continued on casting the spell, as if trying to light something.

"I _can_ do this." She replied nonchalantly, although Harry could hear the hint in the tone of her voice. She seemed really determined in lighting all the candles in the darkened room.

Harry sighed in defeat, although not because of sadness or such, but because of relief. If he had been stuck with Draco and Ron… he would rather not think about it.

He watched her closely as Luna tried to light the candles. He couldn't understand it, but it seemed that Luna had a hard time trying to use her wand, which was very un-Luna, as she seemed to be the person who could easily adapt with anything, especially when they were surrounded by dementors, Luna was one of the people who casted the Patronus… and now, just a simple spell, it didn't make any sense at all.

"Luna?" Harry asked. Luna, although she did not stop waving and flicking her wand, replied, "Yes?"

"… is there something wrong with your… wand?" asked Harry.

"I'm not really sure," she replied, "_Inflamari_—oh no…" she waved her wand again, "_Inflamari_—shoot." She sighed. Harry sighed at the same time, it seemed like Luna wouldn't answer his question yet.

"You don't have to answer right now." Harry commented.

Luna replied, "It's not that." She blinked, "It's just that… I couldn't remember how to hold the wand properly, and whenever I do think I remember, everything goes blank and I start from scratch again…"

"Hn?" It has been a while since it was brought up, "Since when…?"

"Since years ago…" Luna stopped and looked at Harry in the eyes, despite them being some good meters away from each other, "… why do you seem to be very interested in it?"

Harry could see three lighted candles flicker in the dark, and Luna's semi-illuminated face, her wide pale eyes were piercing his own brilliant green ones. He wanted to look away, break the eye contact, but his body won't listen. He just stayed rooted in his spot, his eyes never leaving hers.

Harry opened his lips, "Because I—"

**CRASH!**

A door, which didn't seem to be there before, opened. Harry closed his eyes with irritation and relief.

"Harry!" a long mane of bushy brown hair came in Harry's view as he fell flat on his back. Hermione still couldn't seem to forget that impulse of hers whenever she sees Harry. Harry heard a cough, he looked up, and saw Ron looking away.

"You can stand now, Hermione." Harry smiled, hopelessly shaking his head. "Oh, you're not wet?"

"Sorry, Harry… hm? Wet? Oh, no… I had my clothes dried…" she turned to Luna, who was now being hugged by Stellar. "Luna, thank goodness you're fine! Did Harry treat you good?"

"Hey!" Harry pouted uncharacteristically.

"I'm fine, although I still couldn't do an Ember spell correctly." Luna said thoughtfully.

Harry felt relieved, and yet, he was getting more and more worried. Many things had happened for those thirteen years that they hadn't been in contact with each other, and Harry couldn't forgive his self for letting Luna be in this state. He just couldn't.

"Harry." He heard Draco's drawling voice from his behind. He looked back.

"What?" Draco mentioned to the door (which had just appeared). He walked away from the girls, gazing one last time at Luna's direction, feeling his heart lighten as he saw her smile happily.

"You want to know what happened?" Draco asked.

"About what?"

"Are you an idiot?" Draco rolled his eyes. "About Luna Lovegood."

"Straight forward, aren't you, Draco?" asked Harry.

"I had to, as you couldn't even take a hint out of something so easy." Draco rolled his eyes once more, "Whatever, _Potter_. Well, do you _want_ to know?" his voice was even more serious, making Harry wonder about it.

Harry took a deep breath, "H-how can I be sure that you'll be telling the truth?"

"Are you channeling Ron Weasley, or are you too Weasleyfied?" asked Draco, apparently making fun of Harry.

"None of the above." Harry replied darkly, "Tell me. _Now._"

"Very serious, are you?" Draco mockingly looked down on him. Draco glanced inside the room. Harry, though he didn't ask what he was looking at, was sure that Draco was looking whether the others were within earshot.

Draco mentioned Harry to a darker part outside the room; Harry stepped forward, only to sink his foot on a pool of what he presumed as water, or at least he hoped. It seemed like the water hadn't gone down just yet. Harry felt his heart beat faster than normal, Draco's outline was just before him… leading him to an even darker place… Harry gulped, while trying to keep his head from spinning.

'_Oh God, why am I having this weird thoughts?_' Harry smacked his palm to his face, cursing. Draco stopped, and so did Harry.

"I should know."

"What?" Harry gave him a bewildered stare, although he wasn't sure whether Draco could see that he was staring at him.

"About Luna Lovegood…" Draco's voice became throaty, very much like the way he spoke nineteen years ago, while Harry, Ron and Hermione were held hostage in the Wiltshire Manor. "She lived with us for many years, since the time she lost her memory."

"I see… since when?" Harry was rather wondering why Draco had to do it in such a shady-if not dark-place.

"Shut up, Harry, I'm not yet finished." Draco replied harshly, Harry winced, "She lived with us for eleven years, you can start counting, but for simplicity's sake, she lived with us ever since she had Diana."

Harry gulped, "Don't tell me that you're Diana's father…"

"Hell no." Draco replied simply. "It just so happened that she was brought to St. Mungo's—"

"St. Mungo's?! Why-how-"

"I told you, let me finish first." Draco replied, irritated, "She was brought to St. Mungo's on the night that she was on labor… just so happened that Stellar was… well,"

"She was there too?" asked Harry.

"Yeah. Scorpius… but that's out of the question—" Draco coughed, Harry smirked, this was probably the reason why Draco would like to talk about it in the dark.

"—the Healers, I heard… were very surprised when they saw the baby… they thought it was _dead_."

"What?"

"It wasn't breathing, its heart doesn't beat. Everyone thought it was dead…" Draco stopped, and then continued, "… but when they were about to take the baby away from Luna, it… it…"

"It what?"

"It… well, it cried."

"That's all?"

"Well, sort of."

"There's nothing to worry about then." Harry replied, he was rather relieved, actually.

"I haven't told you about it yet."

"About?"

"About Luna losing her memory."

Harry inhaled a sharp breath. It didn't help, he thought Luna losing her memory was because she got an accident or something, but the way Draco was telling him, it was a lot more serious than that.

"W-well… tell it…"

Harry felt dry sweat roll on his face, his ears became sensitive that he felt he could hear every drop of water falling from the wrecked ceiling of the tunnel to the wet floor, every swish and whoosh of air that seemed to come from nowhere, the chit-chat of rats by squeaks and squeals.

It scared Harry. He was scared to know the truth, and he had no idea why.

"Luna… was brought to St. Mungo's by that crackpot of a fool, Sybil Trelawney, accompanied by her so-called daughter, Cleora." Draco replied.

"Professor Trelawney?"

"She's no longer a professor… besides, did you ever think she was fit to be a professor?"

"Not really, but that's out of it." Harry shook his head, "How did you know?"

"We saw them, Ron Weasley, me and…"

"And?"

"You."

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Candles flickered in the dark as the Hogwarts students walked to their respective classes; Mrs. Norris still on duty, alive and kicking (and meowing), patrolling on the corridors, slipping away from the students and quickly alarming Argus Filch of any mischievousness. The funeral of the late Professor Flitwick had come and go very quickly that the students didn't even realize that it had been already a week.

The darkness of the castle did not seem to reflect the outside grounds of Hogwarts. The third and higher years were still visiting Hogsmeade every two weeks, and the younger years spent their time somewhere near the lake…

"…" a brow twitched.

"…" a book snapped shut.

"…" a snitch was missed by inches.

"Wh-what ha-happened to _you_?!" Albus, Rose and Scorpius pointed at Diana in unison. They were wearing their usual uniform, Diana however…

"Oh, this? I just happened to walk by this corridor, and these potion materials just came from the ceiling." Diana replied wistfully, "But thank goodness this book I borrowed from you is still dry." She cheerfully handed the book to Rose.

Albus was speechless. How can Diana be smiling when it was obvious that she was being bullied.

"Never mind the book! Look at you! Who did this? It's awful!" Rose threw the soggy cloak off , checking her uniform. It was wet and slippery with pink, green and yellow slimy-like substance. Diana looked pale and thin when her cloak was pulled off.

A lower classman giggled at Diana's outfit. Rose balled her fists, took an eraser, and threw it to the kids.

"Shut up, you dorks!"

"Isn't she a dork herself?" Scorpius whispered to Albus, who did not comment. Actually, he was in agreement with Rose. She was just a little louder than he was.

"I heard you!!!" Rose looked back at them, looking crazy. She turned to Diana, "You're a complete mess! Let's go to the girl's comfort room… we should ask for spare clothes too…"

"Here, you can use mine…" Scorpius said, throwing off his own cloak and placed it on Diana's shoulders. Rose looked away.

"Thank you." Diana smiled at Scorpius, who only nodded at her. "I'll bring this back to you…"

"Thanks for being nice to Diana, Rose." Scorpius petted Rose's head, and smiled happily at her. Rose's face turned a dark shade of red and immediately grabbed Diana's hand, and walked away.

Albus watched as the two girls walked away from them. He said, "I wonder who did that to Diana. Do you have any idea, Scor—" He glanced at Scorpius and stopped. Scorpius' face looked terrified.

A lot more terrified since Rose handed him a wolf cub.

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"Wh-what do you mean?" Harry gawked at Draco, although he wasn't exactly sure if the Slytherin was still there.

"You were there, idiot." Draco replied, Harry winced when Draco said that he was an idiot. "It was a stormy Halloween night, don't you remember?"

"Halloween… by that… you mean, Halloween thirteen years ago? You were there at St. Mungo's too?" Harry asked.

"Obviously, Potter, or I wouldn't know. You were wearing that shabby old checkered polo of yours, and Weasley was wearing his jumper." Draco said, "You weren't able to see us, because we were in a high-class ward, you just happened to pass by."

Harry felt a throbbing vein on his forehead already. Just then, he realized something, "Wait… does that mean… Scorpius was born… on Halloween eve too?"

"Yes." Draco added, "That kid of yours, Albus Severus—what a disgustingly mismatched name—was born that night too, wasn't he? And so was Weasley's?"

"W-well, that normal, isn't it? There's nothing special about it—"

"Wrong, Potter."

"Wh-what?"

"Didn't you know?" Harry could almost imagine Draco sneering or snickering, "That the rest of the children, except ours, born on that night… all died?"

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"Ugh…"

Albus Severus Potter couldn't sleep.

He kept on rolling in his bed, left and right, for every sheep that was eaten by the '_sleep monster_' in his counting. To his dismay, every time he counted up to seven, the monster would always creep and eat the fluffy cotton sheeps.

"Damn everything seven…" Albus muttered, as he flung his arms out and pulled the emerald blanket over his form.

_Sleep._

_Sleep._

_Sleep…_

"ARGH!" Albus pushed the blanket away.

**WHACK!**

"Shut up!" Scorpius had hit Albus with a pillow, "If you don't want to sleep get out, and let everyone else sleep!" with that, Scorpius went back to his bed and pulled the covers.

"…" Albus twitched, '_What a mean person. Ah, well…_'

Albus stretched out his arm, and went to his desk. He sat on his chair, with a label "_Four-Eyed King_" on its back; he couldn't help but suppress his chuckle as Scorpius was surely going to kill him if he did. He remembered the time when they first had their things in this room, and they played poker to get what things they wanted to use.

He searched for his pen in the drawer.

'_It's a good thing I didn't turn off the lights._' Albus grinned, as he took a black notebook and started to write.

He wrote, '_November 24… it was…'_

Another smile escaped his lips as he poured his soul in the papers.

'_I hope no one reads these…_' Albus sighed.

He knew he acted like a girl whenever he would write on that journal. It was extremely weird though, as whenever he would reread the pages, he could not remember writing some of the parts. There were some that he was a hundred percent sure that he wrote them, but somewhere in the middle of a paragraph, phrases were inserted in it that he was so sure that he didn't write.

Albus' eyes flew to the bottom of the page.

'_Die._' It read.

Albus stumbled backward and fell.

"W-what t-the…" he muttered. He quickly stood up, closed the notebook, shoved it in the drawer, and climbed to his bed. He never dared open his eyes, as he felt shivers run down his spine.

'_That shadow…_' Albus could feel he was being watched by that sneering bastard. But he felt weak against it. Unknowingly, Albus began thinking that it should just go and '_Die, die, die, die_'.

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A/N Part 2:

If any of you think that this is such a sappy, corny, and absurd chapter, I guess I might be channeling JK's 'poetic-ness'.

_Inflamari_: I think it was used in the PS/SS movie, I'm using it, so… uh… disclaimer, anyone?

I will appreciate if you'd point out the inconsistencies (aside from me shifting from canon, as this is AU) in the characters in your reviews. Thank you!


	15. The Alchemist

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A/N: Hello, I hope you guys didn't get bored in the previous chapter, I have lots and lots of PowerPoint presentations in the last week (and two coming this Thursday) so my mind is all, ugh, cramped and bleeding heavily from hemorrhage and nosebleeds from studies. (I'm in the verge of almost giving up and putting all my works in hiatus mode because of studies… ugh.)

Thanks to **Babbit** (**DonKno**) for pointing it out for me. :D I'll try to do my best to improve! (hopefully!)

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**Chapter 15**

**The Alchemist**

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November had finished so quickly, that in a blink of the eye, Christmas was approaching fast. It was just the second week of December, but snow was already falling heavily. Pure white sheets covered the grounds, and students wore thick clothing, as many of the students had caught cold in the previous week.

"Wow… it seemed like it was just yesterday that we had our first Christmas here at Hogwarts." Albus said thoughtfully, as he glanced on the snow-stained window. The window looked half-frozen, and it made shivers run down his spine.

Scorpius sniggered, taking Albus' attention away from the window, "Yeah. I could clearly remember your face all red when we told you that we'll be staying here for Christmas!"

"S-shut up!" Albus turned his head at the other Slytherin, his face red. Scorpius laughed even more.

"But it was true, wasn't it, Diana?" Scorpius asked Diana as he placed his hand over her head.

Diana smiled, "Uhm. But I don't think Albus Severus would like to talk about it, right, Albus?"

'_She must have telepathy or something. Hehe._' Albus thought, sighing in relief. He couldn't bear to think of those humiliating thoughts of his first year in Hogwarts. '_Thanks, Diana._'

Diana looked back at him, surprised at first, but then smiled back at him.

"Ah, you two are no fun! (I can't tease you!)" Scorpius pouted. "Oh, yeah…" he added, as if he had remembered something, ", have you seen Rose? She hasn't been going with us lately…"

"You just wanted to tease Rose, don't you?" Albus asked him.

Scorpius placed his hands behind his head, "O-of course! What else would be the reason? Besides, it's not like she's really getting angry about it. Hehehe."

"That's rude." Albus replied.

"Oh, it's Rose." Diana pointed at the people walking on the left wing corridor, they were chatting animatedly.

Indeed, one of them was their bushy haired friend. The person she was walking with, however, did not look exactly pleased by the two boys' presence. Rose and James, Albus' older brother, stopped on their tracks, they seemed to be talking earlier; Scorpius coughed.

"Thanks, James!" Rose smiled, waving happily at her older cousin. She walked towards the three.

"Ohhh… thanking _Jamie_ now, aren't you, Rosie?" Scorpius smirked, causing the girl to pout.

"Shut up, Scorpius." She frowned. "You should be nicer to James—", Scorpius flinched, "—since if it wasn't for him, I would've been caught by Dad. I'm just reminding you that he was the one who's keeping the secret, you know. Besides, there's nothing wrong with me being accompanied by him, he's my cousin after all, right, Al?"

"Uh…" Albus wasn't exactly sure how to answer her though.

"Ugh. Never mind." Rose said. She pulled an envelope from her books. She opened the letter given to her, and began to read.

"From who?" asked Albus, who was helping his self with an apple.

Rose replied, "Grandmum."

"Oh." He said, biting a part of the juicy fruit.

"Argh, Grandmum wants us-", Rose pointed at herself and at Albus, who looked like he bit something bland, "To go to the Burrow, how about you, Diana?"

"I'm going to spend Christmas vacation here again." Diana said thoughtfully, "My mum's not at home."

"Not home?"

"Yes."

"So you're not going home?"

"Yes."

"You're going to spend your Christmas here? Alone?" Rose asked worryingly, as she grabbed Diana's hand.

"Alone?" Diana tilted her head, "I'm not alone."

"But… those people who don't like you…" Rose frowned.

Diana shook her head, "I am not alone. Scorpius is with me." Diana said it with such a refreshing smile that Albus couldn't help but think that she was in love or something with Scorpius. He glanced at Rose. She was smiling, although he was sure she would rather not hear about it.

"Hey you, King of Snarks!" Rose turned to Scorpius, who only looked at her weirdly.

"What?"

"When… when Christmas vacation comes, be… be sure that you'll t-take care…" she prodded a finger on his chest, "You'll never let Diana cry on Christmas vacations that we're not here!"

"Ah—" Scorpius looked flabbergasted by her action. He sighed, "Fine, fine, Queen Dork. I promise I'll take care of Diana… like how I used to."

"W-well… that's f-fine then!" Albus could see her bite her lower lip. She must hate herself for doing this. She pointed her finger just right before Scorpius' face, "That a promise, you… you… you third-rater!"

"Th-third ra-rater?" Scorpius clenched his fists, "That's too much!"

"T-that suits you _very well_." Rose stuck her tongue out at him.

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There was no way in hell that Harry was going to believe it. It might've been just a coincidence, yes… that might be it.

"Died?" Harry tried to laugh, "You must be jesting—"

"This is not a laughing matter, Potter. If you think that being a Gryffindor will automatically make everything you do, even laughing at something that was terrible, right, then you're _definitely_ wrong." Draco said in such a serious manner that Harry stopped laughing almost immediately, "… H-how did you know this?"

"Simple. I asked Pansy—"

"Parkinson?"

Harry could almost imagine Draco rolling his eyes, "Is there any other Parkinson that you and I both know? She's a Healer at St. Mungo's—"

"A Healer?!" Harry gawked, "That pug-faced girl became a Healer?!"

"Shut up, Potter." The annoyance in Draco's voice was becoming apparent, "Just because Pansy is not my current girlfriend doesn't mean that you could just call her whatever you like."

"… yeah. Right…" Harry coughed. This was too much. Draco was actually telling him to lay off on his friend.

"Where was I? Ah, yeah… St. Mungo's… Pansy told us about it, right after the parents next to Stellar's ward were crying. Zacharias Smith, if I wasn't mistaken—"

"That pompous jerk?!"

"Look who's talking."

"Shaddap." Harry balled his fist, but kept it to his self anyway.

"Whatever. Then after that, Pansy told us that out of a hundred children, only four lived. We asked her who they were, well, Stellar actually was so worried…" Draco coughed, "… that was the time when we went to see Luna Lovegood, and Stellar was even more worried after that."

"Why?" asked Harry; feeling that it sounded odd, he immediately changed his question, "I… I mean, why… I mean, it's not like they knew each other…"

Draco shook his head (at least for Harry, remember, it was pitch dark), "It's because… Stellar was in the same House as Luna, she's a Ravenclaw; they also worked together, something about _transmutations_, I believe. It's almost the same as transfiguration… You've seen them do it."

"Huh?"

"When Luna made that… Flying Nooki—"

"Snorkack."

"Yeah, that. Whatever it was, Diana had to make those odd circles before Luna could send that thing off." Draco replied. "This house-or tunnel, whatever-once belonged to the person who taught them about those trans-thingy. They called him, what was it... was it Teacher or Master?"

"I see…" muttered Harry, although he wasn't exactly sure whether he understood.

"Luna was a naturalist-"

Harry replied irritatingly, "I know that."

"-but she practiced that thing too with Stellar, as it seemed that their teacher was the real thing... Nicholas Flamel..."

"Huh?"

"Never mind that."

Harry sighed. He didn't care about Draco's wife, what was important was what happened to Luna after all those years. "Weren't you going to tell me something?"

"I know I was… but are you really that closed off from civilization for you not to know?" Draco asked, seemingly ticked off, "Didn't you know that Luna Lovegood had been missing for a year before she was sent to St. Mungo's?"

"M-missing?" Harry's heart pounded so much that he wondered whether Draco could hear his heart. "No… no one told me…" All of a sudden, Harry remembered his talk with Mundungus a year ago, concerning Luna's whereabouts.

How could he forget?

Harry wanted to kick his self as he was reminded by his stupidity; he might have been too lax, since he hadn't thought about it ever since he had met Luna at Wiltshire Manor that summer. His mind was preoccupied by the fact that she had lost her memory… but it would fit… Luna losing her memory… Harry found his self, clutching the quill he had "borrowed" earlier.

"Yeah. She was missing." Draco replied, "And no one told you? And I thought the Weasleys were nice with the Lovegoods."

"You must be lying… Ginny would've told me—"

"Tut. That wife of yours seriously wouldn't tell you about it." Draco replied, "Although she doesn't think Luna as a threat—"

'_A threat?_'

"—I don't think she'd let you know that one of your friends had gone missing, as we all know, you have a… what did Granger call you… ah, '_saving-people-thing_', and… this is just a theory… I think that wife of yours thinks that any girl you save will end up languishing in love for you."

"… That's stupid." Harry commented, although he knew perfectly well that it might be the case. "… well… to think about it… maybe…"

"You shouldn't talk to your wife like that you know." Draco smirked, at least Harry thought so, "She _is_ your wife."

"Don't kid around, Draco. You perfectly know why I married her." Harry replied grudgingly.

"Whatever, Potter. As I said… there's a high possibility that the Weasleys didn't let you know about it, on purpose." As Draco said those words, Harry couldn't help but feel resentment towards his family.

"… what… what about Luna's memories?"

"?"

"You told me earlier that you'll tell me, didn't you?"

"Yeah… but, it's kind of stupid."

"… are you taking me for a fool?" Harry asked dangerously, "…"

"You really should do something about that temper of yours, Potter. It's not healthy."

"Then when will you tell me—"

"When we talked to her in St. Mungo's—" Draco started.

"…" Harry stopped.

"She no longer had her memories." Draco said blandly, "She had no idea who the father of her daughter was, nor was she conscious that she was pregnant. Her wand was almost snapped in half, and her state at that time was pitiful. She didn't seem to get enough sleep those times, as she had big bags under her eyes, her hair was even stragglier than it is now."

"Y-you're kidding…"

"No, I'm not. If you don't believe me, ask Luna."

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"Take care of yourselves then…" Rose bit her handkerchief; Albus however remained silent, "…"

"Uh…" Scorpius scratched his left cheek, looking away at the young girl; Diana on the other hand tilted her head on the side and blinked.

"And don't forget to open our gifts…" she bit another part, "… don't forget to owl us… make sure you eat three times a day…"

"Uhm…" Albus reached for Rose's shoulder, but wasn't able to make contact as the female Weasley reached for Diana's hand.

"It's a promise, okay?" Rose looked at the two of them, rather teary-eyed. Scorpius crossed his arms, as if thinking of a way out of it, "Well…"

"Promise???" she turned to him, looking rather hopeful.

"Rose…" Scorpius placed his hand over Rose's, "Please…"

"Yes?"

With a sigh, the blonde Slytherin replied, "Stop overreacting."

"Eh?!" the Gryffindor backed away in horror; she clasped Diana's hand, and bawled, "Scorpius is soooo mean!"

"Now, now." Diana replied, patting Rose's hair. "Don't cry."

"Waaahhhhhh!!" Rose cried loudly, making Scorpius and Albus cover their ears with their hands. It took the Ravenclaw five minutes before Rose stopped crying, although she was still hiccupping a little when she did.

"That was really not nice, Scorpius." Diana said thoughtfully, "Rose seemed to care about us, I think."

Scorpius looked away, "Whatever. She didn't have to act like our mother. She's worse than mum."

"H-hey… that's too much." Albus commented, as he saw Rose blanch with what he said.

It was the last day of school in the current year, just before the Yuletide season. Many of the students were already fetched by their parents, so the only ones left were those who would be taking the Hogwarts Express. Some of them had arranged vacations before hand, and only needed to be accompanied to Platform 9¾; Albus and Rose were among those students who would be taking the train, while Diana and Scorpius were going to stay at Hogwarts.

"Well… this would be the first Christmas holidays that we wouldn't be together, then." Albus said, as he watched the bewitched ceiling of the Great Hall.

Last year, the four of them had stayed at Hogwarts; it was only to Albus' gain, though, as he remembered that if it wasn't for him, Diana, Rose and Scorpius wouldn't be staying here.

"Don't think too much of it," Scorpius placed his arm over Albus' shoulders, "Look on the positive side, you could talk to your mum—" Albus winced, "—Rose won't be suspected, while Diana wouldn't be too lonely here!"

"H-how about you?" asked Rose, "That's unfair to you."

"Me?" Scorpius pointed to his self, "Never mind me, I've always wanted to sneak around without being caught…" he lowered his voice, "… by that _squib_, Filch."

"Squib?" Albus asked.

"Yeah. Learned from Peeves." Scorpius smirked.

Rose raised a brow, "It is from Peeves, you can't believe what he says, could you?"

"Well, I think Peeves knows a lot more than an average student." Diana joined in.

"… it doesn't matter, does it?" asked Albus.

"What?"

"Being a squib?" asked Diana.

"Yeah… I guess."

Diana shook her head, "Albus, I know you're kind, but that is stupid."

'_Ouch._' Albus flinched.

"Being a squib is the worst." Scorpius replied, "I don't want to imagine what would've happened if I was one."

"Forget about Filch," Rose continued, "Stay away from trouble, Scorpius… you know, I'm thinking now that it might've been wrong to say that you should watch over Diana."

"Oh, no, you don't."

"Why, yes." Rose arched her brow higher, if it was possible, and turned to Diana, "Diana, I have a favor to ask you… please look after this idiot, okay?"

Diana giggled, and said, "Sure."

"Eh?!" Scorpius pouted, "These two!"

Albus smiled at the sight. He was sure going to miss them and their antics during the Christmas holidays, Rose and Scorpius' childish fights, Diana and Rose's teasing (then again, he would love to have a tease-free morning), Scorpius' ranting of how Gryffindors were _always_ right no matter what they do, Diana's preaching of the existence of the mythical creatures… he was sure going to miss them.

"It's almost time." Diana said, as she was looking at her wrist. Albus nodded at Rose, who nodded back.

Scorpius and Diana went with the two at the gates, just before the horse-free carriages, although Diana told them that thestrals pulled them, much to Albus' horror. His cousin bawled loudly again, just before they stepped in the carriage, and flung her arms around Diana and Scorpius. It took her a while before she stopped.

"We'll see you next year, then…" Scorpius smirked. He bowed, while Diana curtseyed, "… Your-Four-Eyed-Highness, Your-Bossy-All-Knowingness."

"See you soon, Your Honorable-King-of-Snarks," Albus and Rose replied in unison, though Rose was still hiccupping, "You too, Your Ethereal-Dottiness…" With that, the two blood-related cousins entered the coach; the carriage started to move, throwing the two out of balance.

"Ugh… this is why I hate horses…" Rose muttered under her breath. Albus, however, looked back at, wishing he could still see them; it was no avail, though, Scorpius and Diana were merely tiny pinprick dots that seemed to fade from view as snow continuously fell to the ground, covering the trails and tracks that they passed on.

Something told Albus that he wasn't going to enjoy this year's Christmas.

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A/N: OMG. Eight pages. Just eight pages! OMG. My author's block is really getting to me these days… (report, report, report… ugh, I hate studying. If it wasn't for the fact that I get money/allowance for going to school, I really _won't_ attend classes. Ugh. And I'm supposed to be workaholic, I can be up for 24 hours without sleep just to finish PowerPoint presentations.)

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TRANSMUTATION CIRCLES, its implications and limitations. DEFINITELY _**NOT**_ mine. Take a guess on who. (Hint: See the chapter title, hee hee)

**POLL**: 1. What do you want to see next chapter? Suspense? Romance? Mystery? Tragedy… oh wait, too early for that… uhm… what genre do you want to be featured next chapter? (Please help this ill authoress) 2. How is the story so far? Is it boring? Good? Nice? Too romantic? Too sappy? Comments are very much welcomed!

Please continue reading **Darkness Rising**!

**Recommending**: **All was Well** by **michelle31a **(one of the best Harry/Luna fanfiction writer I had ever read, actually, one of the best Harry Potter fanfiction writer. Her works are definitely a **MUST READ**!)


	16. Draco's Mark

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A/N: Thank you for the reviews and answers to the poll! I'm not good with romance and comedy so I try to stay away from them, but I'll _try_ to write some "decent" romance part. I hope. (Yay! The reviews are nearing 50! I'm so happy!)

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**Chapter 16**

**Draco's Mark**

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The strange-looking chimney of a seemingly upside-down house emitted a puff of white smoke, then it turned green, and then black, and then gray. It again returned to emitting white smoke. The strange roof was covered with snow, and so was the large backyard that seemed to expand every year; snowmen and snow bunnies decorated the yard, as if a normal Muggle family were the ones living in such a strange place. A single lone figure sat on the concrete bench right before the gates, as if waiting for someone. She looked tired and irate, the bags under her eyes did not help her to become endearing to the eye.

"Mum?" a small redheaded girl squeaked. She was holding a scarf on her hands, "Mum… it's cold here… come inside, Mum."

"…"

"Mum?" the small girl placed her hand over her mother's own. She looked extremely worried for her mother, "You haven't eaten anything yet, mum… you haven't got any sleep either…" she leaned to her mother's side.

Her mother's brow twitched. With no warning or whatsoever, her mother pushed the child away, making her tumble and fall to the cold snow. With that, Ginny shouted, "Go away, Lily! Leave me alone!"

Tears flooded the young girl's eyes, as she met the side of her mother she would never wish to see. Lily bit her mittens as she staggered to stand; she looked upon her mother with fearful eyes.

Ginny did not seem to care about the implication of what she had done; she went back into sitting on the hard, cold bench. Even as the young girl screamed and wailed back to the warm walls of the Burrow, Ginny did not look back. She did not care anymore.

Her mitten-covered hand clenched into balls.

Under the moonlit night, under the falling snowflakes, she spat through gritted teeth, "Cheater…"

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"We're going back, then?" asked Harry as they blindly tapped their way in the dark. No reply. Harry gasped, "Draco?"

He felt a tug on his wrist.

"Walk, you idiot." He heard Draco say. He continued to walk, tripping over some stones in the way; it took them a good three minutes before they found a spark of light.

The sign of brightness in the dark made Harry felt warm; it was probably because it felt frightening being in the dark, not knowing whatever waited for him beyond the pitch-black eternity. Mixed feelings rushed back to his heart as he and Draco were drowned by light.

He was happy, angry, afraid, worried, and intrigued, and he was sure he was going to have issues before and after he asks the questions that were beginning to run in his empty mind.

He felt happy that he was finally out of that lightless tunnel, and that the warmth of light was finally flooding back to him. He could see the flickering lights of the candles which were suspended in mid-air; huddled on the corner were the three women, as Ron was sitting on a chair, he seemed to be sleeping. His eyes drove to Luna, whose hands were intertwined with the two other women, they chatted of words that did not make sense to Harry.

He was angry at the Malfoys-especially Draco-because they did not say anything about Luna after all those years. He was worried about Luna's state, and what might happen to her if she won't get her memory back, or if she does get back her memory, what will become of her? What will become of her child? What would become of them?

He walked inside, although Draco brushed him aside, as the blonde man stomped his way to the three ladies. He was probably lecturing her of why they weren't looking at the door or something; he walked silently, noting how Luna brushed a strand of hair away from her face and behind her ears, how Luna smiled as Draco began complaining of how childish and immature Stellar was for a twenty-nine year old mother, how her scarred hand was. It intrigued, if not worried, him.

He cannot hide the fact that he was intrigued by what happened to her, there were just… a lot of things he wanted to know, to find out, and yet, at the same time, he too was afraid to know the truth. He was afraid to know who had her, he feared that she might blame him about what happened… or worse, if it had been such a shock to her, she might blame herself on what happened. Harry immediately closed his eyes on the thought, and leaned on the wall.

He wouldn't want that. He couldn't let her suffer… he couldn't let her do everything on her own, alone. It scared him. It pained him.

"Are you okay?" Harry felt a hand touch the cheek of his face. It was extremely warm, and it made him feel… good, if not better. He opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was those oddly misty eyes that always reflected the truth, those seemingly unkempt dirty-blonde hair, and those wild radish earrings that made onlookers laugh at her oddity.

Harry reached out his hands to her, and enveloped her into his arms. He felt electricity run from the tips of his fingers, the first bit of skin that came in contact with Luna's own, to his brain and to his heart, sending it to painful constriction. He felt numb and weak, unable to speak.

He did not dare look into her eyes, as he knew she would immediately see the fear that he so much wanted to hide; he feared she would know the truth. He feared that she would hate him. As he closed his eyes and held on to her, he knew that he failed to protect the only person he truly loved.

"H-Harry?" he heard her whisper his name, "A-are you alright?"

It was she, who felt pain because of him, and yet, it was she, who asked him if he was fine. He felt ashamed of himself, as it was he, who did not have the guts to protect the love that she had for him, as well as his love for her.

Harry opened his eyes once more, but he did not look at her yet. He was afraid that she could see everything that he was afraid of; he hugged her tighter instead.

"H-Harry?"

"Let… just let me stay like this, could you?" he asked her, "Could you let me?"

Fear wounded his heart once more. What if she hated him? What if… even though she had temporarily lost her memory, her feeling of hatred for Harry was still there…?

Harry's pessimistic trains of thought abruptly came into a halt, as his mind and body froze as he felt a warm hand on his head. He might sound like a girl, or something, but… he felt guilty as he felt Luna's reply to him. Her hands seemed to emit strange warmth, as it made him comfortable; her presence calmed his soul. He could not believe that he had hurt this woman to marry someone he did not even love.

"Hem." Someone coughed, causing Harry to snap out of his wonderland. Harry knew who it was, basing from the sound of the cough. "You two finished?" the drawling voice of Draco Malfoy resounded in Harry's ear.

'_Bastard._' Thought Harry, as he took off his arms around Luna; she too took away hers. Harry looked at her, '_… she must've been uncomfortable…_' he took her hand.

"Thank you."

Luna flustered, "It was nothing… we are friends, aren't we?"

Harry felt a piece of stake was repeatedly stabbed on his chest as the word "friend" resounded in his ears; but he somehow, he felt a little more secure than when the first time he had seen her after a long time.

She had called him "friend", and it was enough for him to know that she did not hate him.

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"I want to go back." Albus murmured as he, Rose and James watched the snow glide through the air. It had been hours since they left Hogwarts and set forth back to Platform 9¾, and through King's Cross.

It was boring.

Scorpius wasn't there to tease Rose, which seemed to be the norm ever since they set sight on each other; Diana, who liked to distract them every once in a while with her wild theories of seemingly nonexistent beings and creatures, was also not present in the room. Albus missed Scorpius, but he missed…

Albus shook his head. '_I must be feeling sleepy or something… if Diana was here…_' he stopped, '_Ugh. I must be really sleepy._'

He leaned on the soft cushion behind his back. It did not help.

He turned his attention to the two people sitting in front of him, they were both silent, and it was _scary_. He had never seen them as silent as this when they were together, they would talk about almost anything concerning on everything around them. James must've noticed that Albus was looking at them, he said, "So… you two really came?"

Albus and Rose nodded.

"Ah… I see…" after that, James fell silent again; with this, Albus felt there was something wrong. He had not been in contact with his brother for the past few months, much to his surprise, so he had no idea what was happening in their home. His father wouldn't reply to his posts, his mother… well, he didn't expect anything from her actually… however, Albus dreaded going back to the Burrow.

If his mother humiliated him in front of the whole student population via Howler, Albus was sure that if they were going to treat him worse.

He is a Slytherin after all, and for the Weasleys, there was no greater _sin_ than being Sorted in Slytherin. It was like a death sentence for an eleven years old, to be Sorted in Slytherin; even though the Sorting Hat kept on blabbering about how House unity should be the top priority of the students of Hogwarts, Houses kept on waging _war_ against each other, students still kept on classifying people through what House they were Sorted in.

It was great that he did not need to spend summer vacation with them as he stayed with the Malfoys.

Albus immediately had a bitter thought when he found out from most of the Weasley family thought that being in Slytherin automatically makes a person evil. He felt like it was some kind of personal attack on people, and he hated it. It was like being a blood purist, which goes both ways: pureblood purists, and the anti-pureblood purists.

Because of that, he hated them, very much.

"Al…" he heard James say.

"What?"

"Dad is missing." James replied in a calm voice, "And so were Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ronald. I… just got an owl before I left, GrandMum Weasley wrote to me."

"W-what?!" Rose exclaimed, her voice a little higher than usual. "W-what are you saying?!"

James rolled his eyes, "Like I said, GrandMum Weasley said that our parents are missing… well at least our Dad." He shrugged a little. "Mum might be having a tantrum party at the Burrow."

"James!" Rose covered her mouth, "How could you say that?!"

"What?" he raised his brow at them and shrugged. Once again, Albus' older brother became silent. Rose glanced at Albus worryingly.

Rose, however, was not the only one surprised by James' action; Albus gaped at his own brother.

"That was unexpected." Albus said, catching his brother's attention.

James nodded, "It is, but it's not important." Albus caught his brother's eye and grinned. It was, after so many years, that they had found a common similarity.

Their newly found annoyance with their mother was one of the few things they shared in common. One was their shared family name, two was their shared DNA, and the fresh irritation was the third. And boo-yah, there was a fourth one.

James left Rose's side and switched to Albus'. He whispered on his brother's ear, "S-sorry."

"For what?"

"For ratting out on you." James pulled his lips to a smile, "When you were Sorted to Slytherin, I sent an owl to Mum… I didn't know she was going to send a Howler just because of that."

"…" Albus was certainly pleased, and yet, surprised. He smiled back at his blood brother, "It's nothing. Past is past."

"That's absolutely great!" they heard a squeal. Rose was in tears, "It's really great, you two!" she flung her arms around the two brothers.

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"_Ring Christmas bells, merrily ring, tell all…_"

The sound of the choir ringing on the atmosphere as little angel-like figurines sang shrilly; it sent shivers run down Scorpius' spine when he first entered the Great Hall. There were only a few students left in Hogwarts, after the unfortunate incident regarding Professor Flitwick, less students wanted to leave the school premises immediately.

Hogwarts was beginning to get dangerous, Scorpius could feel it. He needed to be careful, be very careful, especially…

"Scorpius!" a cheerful voice entered his ears, he whirled around. Diana wore a periwinkle blue knitted turtleneck sweater under her cloak, and her small hands had pink mittens. Her ears sported dangling bat shaped earrings, and her hair in a mess. Her face was flustering, "I'm so sorry, did you wait too long?"

Scorpius shook his head, "Nah, I just came too."

"Brilliant!" she clapped her hands. Scorpius smiled back at her, as she took his hand and dragged him along with her.

'_Damn, she's fast_.' He thought, as they sped to the third floor. "Ha.. hey, where are-ha-we going?"

"Almost there…" she huffed, just before they took another round on a corner. Then, she stopped abruptly, almost making Scorpius stumble.

"Next time, speak before you brake!" Scorpius irritatingly snarled. To his further annoyance, his listener was not listening at all, instead, she was staring at a wall before them. It did not have any doors, windows, nor painting. It was just there. "What are you doing?" he asked her.

She looked back at him, a gleam on her eyes, "Watch!" she said with such excitement that it made Scorpius' twitch his brows.

With a deep breath, Diana closed her eyes and walked in front of the wall. Scorpius raised his brow as he saw nothing worth noting; Diana walked once again, seemingly in deep though, nothing happened again. Scorpius shook his head, as it might just be another of Diana's attempts to find the so-called "Room of Requirements" that seemed to be a legend among the students.

"Diana, it's…" he was about to tell her that it doesn't exist, when at her third pass, a door slowly materialized. "… it's… it's…"

"The Room of Requirement! Isn't it amazing?!" Diana squealed, "I've now seen the second secret place of Hogwarts!"

Scorpius' eyes widened. It seemed like even though he had been keeping an eye on her, she was still able to flit through his watchful eyes. It scared him. It scared him very much.

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"ARGH!" Draco roared, clutching his left arm, with Stellar immediately rushing to his aid.

"W-what is it?!" she exclaimed as Hermione woke Ron. Harry's brows furrowed.

'_Left arm…_' he thought, '_… could it be…?_'

"Harry, there's another thing I haven't told anyone but Stellar yet." Draco said darkly, causing Luna to look at him, so did Hermione and Ron. "… I haven't told anyone because it might cause panic, and I don't want that. Especially not after everyone thought it was finally freaking over."

"Spit it out, Malfoy." Ron said, he too was all ears. Horror struck Harry as Draco pulled up his sleeve.

Voldemort's sign, the Dark Mark, was darkening on Draco's arm; it seemed embossed on his skin, and the snake was crawling outside the skull's mouth.

"I don't know how it happened," Draco said, and in clear disbelief of his own words, he added, "He's back."

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A/N: Whoa, every chapter gets shorter and shorter, I swear that I'll be a better writer and write a longer chapter. (BTW, I cannot hate James. I really can't.)

Please read and review! (Come on, don't be shy! Hehehe!)


	17. Back to the Burrow

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A/N: Thank you for reviewing the previous chapter, "**Draco's Mark**"! You just made my day! Kekekeke! I mean, "hehehehe"… sorry, I'm channeling Hiruma-sama these days, hehehe… (you'll see one of Hiruma-sama's favorite word in this chapter, I _swear_.) It's getting shorter and shorter in every chapter, sorry! (Whoa, we're almost half-way through the fic! Yay! I know it still hasn't got any plot... dies...)

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**Chapter 17**

**Back to the Burrow**

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"… back?! What do you mean by '_back_'?" Ron mouthed, "What are you talking about?!"

"Oh shit." Draco cursed, ignoring Ron, "How long have we been here?!"

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Ron pointed angrily at the Slytherin, who in turn continued to ignore him as if he was some kind of unwanted–something.

**BOG.**

Harry and the others glanced at each other as some dusts floated from the ceiling to the floor.

"It seemed like something's having a field day upstairs…" muttered Luna, "Is it a Fuzzy Whizzbee?"

"I doubt." Harry replied as pointed at the door. The molds seemed to have eaten their way to the tunnel.

"Oh shit." Draco cursed again. He took out his wand and shot a good spell at the molds; however, unlike before, the molds only stayed paralyzed for a while and then they moved again.

"Stellar?" he glanced to his partner, who brought out a watch from her cloak. It was a copper pocket watch, with a golden chain. There were no numbers, nor planets, only letters of oddly shaped figures-runes.

"Aduro!" Hermione exclaimed, as the molds threatened to enter the room. "Ron! Lock it! Lock it!"

"Fine!" Ron whined, as he took out his wand and shut the door magically. Hermione then began reciting locking charms, "Are you sure that'll help?"

"No." Luna said from Ron's back, scaring the redhead (Don't just pop everywhere!), "Those kinds of spells usually break at this place-"

"Oh my…" she gave out a huff as she read the watch, "We've been out _for months_!"

"Months?" Harry asked, "But we've been here for only hours!"

"Exactly." Luna said nonchalantly, taking their attention, "Every hour in this place is one month in the original world."

"Eh?"

"Does that mean… This place we are now, does not exist in the world where we originally belong to?" Hermione's brows furrowed, "If so… what is this place?"

"So you mean you didn't know where we were going?!" Harry and Ron shouted in unison.

_**BOG!**_

The ceiling began to shake, as if telling them that it could no longer hold whatever it was.

"Not exactly," she shrugged them off, "… I thought they had a clue, about what happened to Luna-", Harry was immediately remembered of their talk just some months ago, "-and I decided to ask them about it-"

"We'll explain on the way," Draco exclaimed, "If we don't go out of this place as soon as possible, the 'Aduro' won't be stopping those molds. Stellar…"

"I _know_." She replied with irritation as she drew a huge circle on a table. She then inscribed runes and letters and what seemed to be sketches at the corner of the circle. She grabbed a book and stood on the table, "Hop on."

"Hop… hop on that little thing?!" Ron accusingly pointed at the table, which seemed to be creaky. "Her-", Hermione was already there, "Ha-", so was Harry, "Lun-", so was Luna.

"If you want to die, fine." Draco said, as he climbed on the table, "But I'm telling you, those molds will give you a rather… painful death." He smirked, as he took his place just behind Hermione.

The door blasted open and the molds crept on the walls, the ceiling, the floor, everywhere-

"Stop-" Ron huffed, "-fucking-", Hermione gasped as she took out her hand, "Ron!", "-around!" he shouted as he clambered on the table, taking his wife's hand.

"Here goes nothing…" Stellar sighed as she pressed her hands on the circle. A hungry batch of flesh-eating molds spread on the air, as if to engulf them, and within a split second, a shining bluish white light enveloped the place.

There was nothing left, but the shattered and splintered table, which was slowly being engulfed.

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"UWAAHHHH!!!" wailed the young Lily as she clambered inside the warmth of the Burrow. She had just come from the front lawn, where her mother waited for someone rather impatiently. Lily immediately ran to her Uncle George.

"Eh?" George raised a brow at his brother, Charlie, as he carried the little girl, "What happened with her?"

"I don't know," he replied, "But I think I saw her talking to Ginny outside."

"Tsk." George shook his head, "That Ginny, taking it out on Lils. Here, have a toffee." He grinned.

"George!" Charlie glared at him.

"Wow, Charlie, you're taking on Mum, are you?" grinned George, as he took the little girl upstairs, "I'll be back in a sec…" Charlie shook his head.

Some things just won't change.

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Heavy breaths and clouds of mists surrounded the six as the large chunk of the table supported their weight. Snow was falling thick from the sky, and it did not help that when they left to the 'other world', it was still September.

"Ah, shit." Ron cursed, "It's so cold! I'm freez-!" Harry knew Ron would've gasped, but hadn't felt doing so, as Hermione threw a large overcoat around the two of them. "Where'd you get this?" asked Ron.

"Oh, Ron. It's just twenty years, and you've forgotten already." She smiled knowingly, as Ron practically raised a brow at her.

Harry held out his hand, and a single snowflake dropped on it. It was cold.

As if in a vacuum, Harry felt the coldness run from his hand, to his arm, to his shoulder, to his ribs, to his feet, to his head…

"Inflamari…" he heard her voice whisper. A single blue ember floated its way to Harry's front. Luna had successfully conjured a spell, it must've been a coincidence. "You were cold." She said, as if reading his mind. Harry couldn't suppress a smile that formed on his mouth as he thought of the words "for him".

"Hey, cut that fluff." Draco sneered. "Aren't you even going to ask anything? Anything at all?"

Stellar rebutted, "Don't force them to ask anything, Draco. They're not fifth graders, for goodness' sake."

"I know they're-", Draco leered, but was immediately cut off by Harry, who was sensing a childish fight between the two.

"You were saying something about us not asking something, weren't you, Draco?" asked Harry. Draco looked at him with his pale eyes, and leaned back, as if he was waiting; Stellar glanced sideways and sighed. Harry continued, "Why was time slower at that place and how could you say that Voldemort's back?"

"Didn't you just see the Dark Mark?" Draco jeered as if he was mocking Harry's capability to comprehend things.

"I saw it, yes, but," Harry took a deep breath, "my scar did not hurt. How can you explain that?"

"Harry, I think I know why." Said Hermione, she was holding a little purse. She glanced a little at Draco and continued, "Harry, twenty years ago… when you 'died'… wasn't it that the Horcrux in you vanished?"

"!" Draco and Stellar gaped at the revelation. Luna however, remained solemn.

"Yeah." Ron immediately agreed, "Since you're no longer a Horcrux, you can't feel Voldemort anymore."

"Oh! You got it right!" Hermione looked at him surprised. Ron twitched his brows, and muttered bitterly, "Always the tone of surprise."

Draco made a sound of disgust, only to be hit on the shins by Stellar.

"Anyway," Harry said, "… if that's the case then… it might be… but wait! The Elder Wand! Didn't I already defeat him?"

"Tsk, tsk." Draco sneered, "Harry Potter, you still don't know the rules of the game, do you?"

"Stop acting so cool, Draco." Stellar rolled her eyes.

"What do you mean?" asked Harry.

"Defeat is different from erasing a person's existence in the world." A rather ethereal voice said with such a saddened manner, "Defeat of someone doesn't mean that the person died, Harry."

'_No! That's impossible!_' thought Harry, '_It's impossible… I… I've already defeated the greatest villain of the Wizarding World… how… how…_'

'They've got a point' said the voice inside Harry's head, 'Don't be too full of yourself, Harry. You've spent thirteen years of your life slacking off_…_'

'_No way… there's no way…_'

"Where are we going then?" asked Stellar, "I've already sent an owl to Scorpius and Diana that we won't be in Wiltshire."

"To whom did you leave Lyra then?!" Draco shouted.

"To my family, of course! I couldn't let Lyra go with the family you hired. She'd be wailing to death before you could even say 'mudblood'." She stared at him, her brows furrowed.

"…"

"What?"

"Well…" Hermione placed a finger before her lips, "I was wondering… would you like… uh…"

"Yes?"

"To the Burrow. I was wondering if you'd like to stay at the Burrow for a while. It _is_ Christmas." Hermione said in a suggestive tone.

"What?!" Draco immediately gave a violent reaction, "You're asking me, Draco Malfoy, to stay in a pigsty-no-a HOLE for Christmas?! Are you insane?!"

"It's not a HOLE!" Ron stood up, almost tipping the table. His ears were all red, a sign of his growing impatience and temper.

"Ron!" Hermione shook her head in disagreement with his actions. "Sit!"

"… uh, sure, 'moine." Ron backed down just as he saw Hermione's flaming eyes. Her resolve seemed to be stronger than his; however, he still glared at Malfoy, as if blaming him for what had just happened.

"I think that's a good idea." Said Luna, cutting in before anyone else spoke, "We haven't eaten for months in this world's… oh, look, isn't that a cute looking snowflake? It looks just like an owl! And oh, the breeze up here isn't that bad either!" she began to babble on stuff.

"…"

Harry grinned. Some things were better off the way they are. Luna simply won't change overnight.

"Speaking of worlds," said Ron, "… what was just that place that we came from?"

Stellar looked at Luna, as if waiting. It seemed like Luna was the only one who could describe it for them; Luna tilted her head.

"… well?"

"Well. I believe you _do_ know Nicholas Flamel?" asked Luna, "Draco told me that you had the Philosopher's Stone when you were still in first year!"

"Uh, yeah… thanks! I mean, what's it got to do with that?" asked Harry, apparently easily swayed.

"He taught us basic alchemy." Said Luna, "When Diana was five, I could perform really good transmutations!"

"Transmutation?" asked Ron.

"Yes. Transmutation. It's like you use the components of a material to create another material, something like that." Said Stellar. "Too bad the old man's passed away, he's such a fun guy."

"He's more than 600 years old, he's way past the limit." Draco muttered, "What's so fun with an old man anyway?"

"Like you're the one to talk, receding hairline." Ron pointed at Draco rudely.

"Why this… son of a whoring sack!" Draco rehashed. Stellar shouted, "DRACO!"

"A what?! You called my mother a what?! I dare you to open your mouth you filthy-" Ron roared. The two of them stood up, rocking the already rocky floating table; they both whipped out their wands, ready for battle…

"_SILENCIO_!"

Four different sets of voices shouted, drowning any possibility that the spell would miss. Harry glanced at the other three, their wands out too. Hermione was fuming and Stellar looked like she was ready to murder someone; Harry would guess who they were, but would rather not. He had a feeling that if ever he said one word about it, it would be like suggesting death sentence to the other two.

Luna however, did not have any reason to do so.

"…" Harry and Luna were speechless. The wives of the men had produced ropes and tied them, so that they won't kill each other.

"Don't you think they'll use nonverbal spells against each other?" asked Harry. Stellar showed Harry the 'confiscated' wands, "I don't think they'll be using these for a while. Anyway, back to what we were talking about before this idiots interrupted?"

"Yeah… about that. Stellar, I was wondering what's your relation with Luna… I mean, aside from you and her being 'students' of Nicholas Flamel…" said Harry. Stellar gave him a look of surprise. "Huh? What is it?"

"Oh, nothing." Stellar replied, "I just thought that you'd ask about Voldemort first."

"Ah…"

Hermione sighed, "But since you asked, I think it is common courtesy to answer, isn't it?" Stellar nodded.

"We were both in Ravenclaw, and we're both naturalists, so it's pretty much expected that we'll bump into each other for some time. That's all." She replied.

"That's… it?" asked Harry, as if he wasn't convinced of her answer.

"Uhm. Yeah. That's it."

"Well… okay." Harry glanced at Luna, who seemed to find it interesting to poke Ron and Draco with her wand and see if they get angry or not. He went back to Stellar, "Who's Diana's father?" he asked.

"H-hey, don't ask me that!" Stellar stammered, "How am I supposed to know Diana's father?!"

"Ah. Sorry. I wasn't thinking… I'm, you know, a little curious about it. That's all."

"His name was Thomas." Harry whirled his head fast that he almost felt it crack as he heard her answer. "He's very handsome, you know."

"Ah?! B-but… I thought…" Harry looked at Stellar then to Draco. Wasn't he been told that Luna did not know who it was?

"C-could it be that your memory is returning?!" Stellar exclaimed. "That's great!"

"I know! It's really nice, isn't it, Harry?" she smiled at him cheerfully.

Harry did not want to lie to himself about it, but it seemed like his body wouldn't listen to him, and his lips turned into a smile.

"I guess, maybe." He replied monotonously, something that caught Luna's attention.

"Are you sure that you're okay with it?" she asked, "It seems to me like you didn't like it."

"Ah… well…" he began to scratch the back of his head, "No, not really."

"…"

"Skipping that!" Hermione clapped her hands. She turned to Stellar, "… could you explain that… warp thingy again?"

"Oh… you mean, the space-time warp?" asked Stellar, which Hermione immediately nodded to. "Hm… well, let's just say that it once existed in the this world… hm…" she touched her chin, "Well, something like that."

"So… that place was once in the map?" asked Harry.

"Yeah." Nodded Luna.

"Oh, look! We're almost landing!" exclaimed Stellar as the table started to descend. It made Harry's stomach gurgle a bit, but he thought he was fine. The Burrow was just some meters away.

"From here it _does _look like a big hole." Said Stellar, as she pointed the oddly shaped house. Draco grinned.

The table began to come to halt, as Harry and the others (Draco and Ron, returning to their "scheduled" shouts) hopped off the table. When it was Luna's turn to leave the table, Harry volunteered to help her.

He, however, did not know that his wife was seeing everything. He didn't know that his wife was already fuming with rage as she neared the site. He didn't know that she was suspecting him of cheating… although he couldn't say that he was wrong, though.

"HARRY!" an ear-piercing scream caught their attention. They whirled their heads to where it originated, and Harry paled.

Ginny was just some good meters away, and oh boy was she mad.

Very mad.

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A/N Part 2: KYA! It's been too long since I last updated! ZOMFG! (Sorry! I was too busy with Hiruma/Mamori of Eyeshield 21!) Another short chapter, sorry, guys.

"_Always the tone of surprise."_ – quote by both Ron and Hermione in TDH.


	18. The Hysterics of Ginevra Weasley unedit

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A/N: I really _want_ to finish this fanfiction. I swear, I will definitely FINISH this one. I'm already half-way! HALF-WAY! I can't lose…!

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**Chapter 18**

**The Hysterics of Ginevra Weasley**

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"Oh no!" Hermione gasped, as Ron's face turned a deep shade of red, or was it maroon?

"Harry Potter, you are in deep shit." Draco said. He stepped in front of Stellar, for some unknown reason.

"You don't have to say that." Replied Harry.

True, Draco did not have to say such. All was needed was Ginny's face, distorted with jealousy and hate. Her usual strut and swish of the hips was absent as she ungraciously stomped from the overgrown back garden to where Harry and the others had landed. Her wand unsheathed, and her hard blazing look on her face made her look angrier than ever.

"HARRY!" she shouted, "You cheater! I should've known!"

"Harry! Explain the situation to her!" Ron immediately said, turning his head to Harry's direction.

"Oh, hello, Ginevra." Luna replied, waving her hand. Somehow, she was rather oblivious of the fact that Ginny was angry.

"Hello my ass, Loony." She snapped at her once-best friend, "You bitch, I thought you were my friend!"

"Ginny!" Harry growled.

"That's not nice," Luna replied calmly, "I don't know what you're talking about, but as far as I remember, I haven't done anything to you for you to say those things to me."

"Shut up! Your excuses won't matter." Ginny snarled, she turned to Hermione, "Same goes to you, Hermione! You were supposed to be my best friend, and now I see you with them! You knew they were together all this time, and you didn't tell me?!"

"Ginny, let us explain-" Ron shouted at his sister, only to gain her anger. She lashed out at him, "SHUT UP! You're my brother, of all people! You knew this cheater was going out with Loony, and yet you didn't even tell me!"

"It's not like that, Ginny!" Hermione shouted back, "And don't call Luna Loony!"

"Yeah, right! Why? Didn't you used to call her Loony too?" Ginny smirked smugly, "That Loony doesn't even know that everyone was laughing at her!"

"That was a long time ago, Weasley." Draco interrupted, "If you ask me, Harry cheating on you for Luna is the best choice."

Ginny turned sharply at him, "Who said you could talk, you stuck up prejudiced pureblood!"

"Look who's talking." Draco sneered, "Listen good, Weasley. If it wasn't for the fact that you became pregnant, there was no way Harry would've married you in the first place."

Ginny glared at him.

"Draco, stop." Stellar pulled her husband's sleeve, "That's too much."

"No, I won't." Draco retorted, "I'm sick of this self-serving woman, who thinks highly of herself, who does not think of others, who thinks that just because she's in Gryffindor, and just because she's a Weasley, she's better than everyone."

"Draco!" Stellar kept on pulling his sleeve. Luna's eyes widened, as she seemed to have noticed something that Stellar saw.

She whispered at Harry, "Harry, we have to stop Draco."

"?" Harry only gave her a confused look.

"Shut up, Malfoy! She may be immature, but she's still my sister!" Ron exclaimed. He turned to Harry, "Harry! Aren't you going to defend your wife?"

"…" Harry looked at Ginny, then at Ron, Hermione, Draco, Stellar, and lastly, at Luna. He felt a jolt in his insides, as he watched Luna with a worried expression etched on her face.

He had to choose. He knew he had to, sooner or later.

"… I can't defend her." Harry replied. "We… we all knew why I married Ginny. It was not because of some goddamned prophecy or something, it was not because it was fate, nor was it because I loved her. It was never because I loved her." he said.

"Harry, don't-!" Stellar muttered.

"We all know… that the only reason why I married Ginny was because…"

"Harry…!" Luna exclaimed, as her eyes widened.

"… I only married Ginny because she was pregnant with James. Nothing more, nothing less." He said, right in front of Ginny.

"Why… why… why you… you have the nerve to say that…" Ginny clenched her fists tightly, as so blood had poured slightly out of her palms and on to the white fleets of snow. "After all that happened to us! That's the only reason?!"

Harry nodded.

There was no use of lying to his self anymore. That he was sure of.

"I… I've been lying to myself, I think." Harry said, "I don't love you, Ginny. Whatever happened years ago, was one huge mistake… I don't know how it happened, but you know it was. Don't… don't you know I feel disgusted with myself, that I did it with you, when Luna was the person I really loved?"

"… love? Harry?" Luna gave Harry a confused expression. "… me?"

"SHUT UP!" Ginny covered her ears with her hands, "I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANY OF THAT BULL!"

"Ginny, listen to me!" Harry shouted, "Don't you see? We thought life was going to be easier if we just took the easy way out, and that was to pretend that everything was fine! That was the biggest mistake we had, Ginny! Listen!"

"I DON'T WANT TO LISTEN TO YOU ANYMORE!" shouted Ginny, "YOU SAID YOU LOVED ME!"

"I… never… said… that… I… loved… you." Harry said, slowly, and loud enough for Ginny to hear.

"Yes… yes you did!" Ginny's eyes began to water, she clenched her fists again, feeling the pain that it produced, "YES YOU DID! YOU SAID YOU LOVED ME! YOU SAID THAT YOU'LL FORGET LUNA AND THAT YOU'LL LOVE ME FOREVER!"

"I DID NOT!" Harry barked, "Why can't you separate reality from fantasy, Ginny?! I NEVER LOVED YOU!"

"You can say whatever you can, Harry." Ginny growled, "But you said you loved me! And that was enough to bind us forever! The wedding bonds… HA! Hahahahahahaha!" she laughed with such vigor and insanity that it scared Harry.

Was Ginny losing it?

"Wedding in the Wizarding world is not like that cheap Muggle wedding where either party could still go with some other partner after they're married!" Ginny roared with laughter.

That was true, Harry knew about it.

Wedding bonds were like Unbreakable Vows. It was eternal.

"… Do you think I care?"

Ginny stopped laughing, her gaze transfixed at Harry.

"I… even if I die…" Harry muttered, "… it doesn't matter. I'm tired of pretending already. I'm tired of keeping a happy façade. I'm tired of people saying how happy and perfect the Potter family is."

"No…" Ginny's face dropped, "No. No. No. No. No… I'm not… I'm not going to accept that! You're mine, Harry! You're mine!" she shouted, "I spent my entire life! MY ENTIRE LIFE just to please you! Just to make sure that you won't leave me NO MATTER WHAT!"

Harry looked away. This wasn't the Ginny they knew. She wasn't this attention seeking woman who lived just to be his wife. They knew she could be something else. But now…

"How could you do this to me?! I gave you my entire life! I gave you my soul! I gave you my heart-"

"No you didn't."

Ginny stopped, her eyes wide, "What-what are you talking about?!"

"You didn't give me your heart. Ginny, don't make me laugh. I'm not that stupid not to know about it." Harry spat, "You loved Neville. More that you will ever love me. I don't know what happened to you when you said that I should marry you… you were already going strong with Neville that time!"

"…" Ginny looked away, as she fell silent.

"Ginny." Luna muttered. Nobody spoke for such long minutes that it felt like forever.

"Mum… is it true…" they heard someone say. They all turned around.

Rose, Albus, and James were on the grounds, their things scattered on the snow. James had a strange expression on his face. It was not hate, loathing, or anything. It was… a blank face. A mask, perhaps, of what was inside his mind, and inside his heart.

"… so that's why you favored Albus all the time, right, Dad?" James sighed. He stepped back. "I'm… I'm not stupid not to notice, Mum, Dad." He stepped three more, "You guys… you should've told me earlier about it…"

With that, he dashed, out of their sight.

Albus and Rose shouted as James ran away from them.

"James!"

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PS:

(If you don't know, the reason why I wanted to stick to one-shots is because right in the middle of my fanfictions, I tend to slack off and then forget the plot (therefore, I forget to finish them, see **Boyfriend by Accident** (DBZ), **Secrets of the Hearts** (PoT) and **Family**(FMA)). Kya. I need inspiration.

See my profile, I've got like… three unfinished stories, I deleted four (**Black Moon**(HP), **Unintentional** (HP), **Children of Fate** (Saiyuki), a Naruto fanfiction) some time ago because _I can't make myself finish them_.)

DISCLAIMER:

_"I… never… said… that… I… loved… you."_ – a quote from a local telenovela. Said by the actor Sam Milby.


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